


More than Survive

by Beneath_the_Trees



Series: Game Over (Are We Having Fun Yet?) [1]
Category: South Park, South Park: The Fractured But Whole - Fandom
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BoyxBoy, Cats, Demigods, Elementals, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Kenny is Pansexual, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Minor Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Miscommunication, Platonic Relationships, Slow Burn, South Park is a town full of oddities, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Supernatural Elements, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Uncle(s) Solangelo, Visitors be warned, actual powers, canon-typical cursing and violence, lots of blood, mixed with an original plot, not so much gore, platonic relationships everywhere, some action and adventure, with a couple of twists and turns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-02-05 08:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 39
Words: 91,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12790848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beneath_the_Trees/pseuds/Beneath_the_Trees
Summary: Kenny fumbled for his phone, glancing at the caller id only to see it was a group call. He frowned, answering it. "Hel-""HELP!" Ashton shrieked, voice filled with panic as harsh gasps crossed through the connection. Kenny shot to his feet, tripping over the part of the blanket on the floor."Ashton?!" Kenny asked, only to hear a broken sob on the other end of the line. "Ashton! What's going on?!""Kenny!" Token's voice rang out from the phone, just as freaked out as Kenny felt, "We need to get to Ashton's house, now!"---Kenny knew they were too old to honestly wander around like kids playing a superhero game, but he supposed the adults in this town were so fucked up they went along with it anyway. What he hadn't expected was to come across a new hero in the fray- a hero with actual powers, like him. A hero onCartman'sside, going by the name Umbra.Even more than that, he didn't expect a mission looking for a missing cat would become this dangerous.With South Park needing actual heroes, a rival that made his stomach twist, and the New Kid making his heart throb and head go crazy, Kenny knew the next couple of weeks would be interesting.





	1. Prologue: Game, Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, In case the description or tags weren't enough to tell you, this is going to both Fractured But Whole and an original plot all at the same time.
> 
> I had looked at the game and wondered, "What could happen if you were actually able to make decisions, able to talk, able to chose your powers, which side you're on, etc." and this is what came of it. Enjoy!

“So, what are you guys going to do after school?”

“None of your fucking business, New Kid!” Cartman shouted almost immediately, and Kenny wrinkled his nose at him from beneath the concealment of his parka’s hood. He exchanged a glance with the three other boys around him, looking at Stan and Kyle first before looking over at the newest addition to their group.

The kid was around Kenny’s height, had long black hair with the ends a shiny silver, amethyst eyes, and a slender build that Kenny was almost certain was all lean muscle compared to Kenny’s own skin-and-bones. His right ear was pierced, a flat silver star hanging from it.

The New Kid, otherwise known as Ashton Fairweather.

Ashton had only been in town for around a month, but he had fit right into their small group- although he also hung out with Craig and his gang every now and then. He was shockingly likeable, drifting through the circle of Kenny’s friends, “rivals”, and super old flings like he was water. Oddly, no one thought much of it. Perhaps it was because Ashton never had their rivalries or differences affect his friendships.

Ashton crossed his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow at Kenny in question. Kenny sighed, shrugging. Cartman was still as much of ass as he had been when they were younger, and the easiest thing to do was just leave it be.

"Cartman is making us break out the old superhero personas." Stan explained, and Cartman let out an obnoxious whine from beside him. "Said something urgent was going on."

"Noooo!!!!! I _told_ you, only we can play superheroes!"

"We're all split up, anyway, dude. What's the point?" Kyle asked, glancing at Cartman, and Kenny was inclined to agree. He and Stan had heard from Kyle about it last night after Cartman had apparently tried to show up in his bedroom without so much as a hello dressed in the teenage remake of "The Coon", saying something about the city being in peril and needing their protection.

"I refuse to say anything in front of the Freedom Pals." Cartman sniffed, turning his nose up at the group. Kenny rolled his eyes.

Ashton chuckled slightly, looking far too intrigued by the game of superheroes than a 16 year old probably should be.

The teens of South Park hadn't played superheroes since they were in 6th grade, and their argument over how to start a (fake) movie franchise had never quite resolved itself. They had all, aside from Kenny, unanimously decided that they were officially too old to constantly play it like they had when they were younger.

They still brought out their costumes on occasion, since it wasn’t like there was much else to do in the town besides play pretend either outside or via videogames, but it had lost some of its luster over the years. Even then, they played just as seriously as they had when they were kids.

Kenny, however, still frequently brought out the Mysterion costume when he was having a particularly bad day and he needed to get out of the house, or just _punch_ something. Or Karen needed a pick-me-up from her "guardian angel". Most times, the nights were spent handling minor threats like drunkards harassing others, or saving damsels in distress- not that South Park had many of those. Anyone older than 8 could handle their own in this town, and the women could be especially frightening.

Other nights, his power came in far too handy as he came across druggies or other scandals that really should be taken care of by the police.

"So, two things," Ashton started, dragging Kenny out of his thoughts, "A) What are you guys split up over, and B)," He flashed a brilliant smile at the group, sharp canines poking out beneath his lips, "How do I join?"

"You can't join!" Cartman hissed, frowning at Ashton. In return, Ashton just rolled his eyes and looked to the others.

"If you don't want him, Cartman, we can take him instead." Kenny said with a small smile, and Cartman immediately jumped at the bait while Ashton looked at him like he just lost his mind.

"No fucking way Kenny, I'm getting the new kid!" Cartman growled, and the rest of the group sighed. “Come to my house after school, and I’ll get you set up.”

“Dude, just let Ashton choose who he joins himself.” Kyle said with a roll of his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest, a frustrated frown spreading across his face. “Although the Freedom Pals franchise still sucks.”

“Oh, shut up about it already, Kyle.” Stan scoffed, rolling his eyes as well as he turned to Ashton. “To answer your other question, Ashton, we had differing opinions on how to go about movie franchises and it caused a pretty big rift.” Stan explained, and Ashton’s smile fell into a look of disbelief.

“Wait, you guys could have made the split happen because of just about _anything_ , and you chose a fake movie franchise?”

“We were like nine at the time, dude.” Kenny explained, and Ashton laughed easily, shrugging and nodding in agreement. “Petty arguments broke out all the time.”

“Fair enough.” Ashton amended, pushing off the locker he was leaning against. “Well, we should probably get to class now. See you guys later!" Without another word, Ashton disappeared into the crowd.

\----

Ashton frowned, eyes unfocused as he looked at the heavy camouflage jacket and simple black gloves still stuffed in his locker. The wisps and tugs of shadows in the shallow compartment danced in front of his eyes idly, admittedly making him dizzy, but he was too preoccupied with thoughts over this game of superheroes the teens of South Park were about to start playing to even bother with looking somewhere else.

This morning, he had jumped at the opportunity to join the others in their game, knowing it was a way to get figure out just who the source of the tingling at the back of his neck was. His mother had mentioned it was something to help Supernaturals find each other, a kind of sensory thing. She and his father compared it to what people called a "gaydar".

Ever since he had moved here to South Park, he had been feeling like at least one person in this small town actually had an ability, and since they had yet to run into each other, Ashton had a feeling it was a kid who didn’t have the ability to really sense others like them.

Now though, as he finally reached into his locker and pulled out his jacket and gloves, he was silently questioning his sanity. Sure, Craig’s gang, Stan’s gang, and a few others played superhero, but considering how small a group that was…

Was he just going to make a fool of himself, going into this?

Ashton sighed, shaking his head. No, he’d already played around with almost all the people younger than 18 in South Park thanks to that fantasy game a couple days ago, and he still hadn’t found anything out except that his family was still stuck in hiding and he had nearly blew it. If Kenny hadn’t-

He pause, struggling to recall just what Kenny had done that kept Ashton from getting into trouble. Why did he think Kenny had done something in the first place, actually? He hadn’t been- no. No, he had been up there with them when the government went after them…

“Come on, Douchebag!” Ashton yelped as he was torn away from his thoughts, eyes widening at the tight grip on his forearm caused by Cartman.

“I _told_ you to stop calling me that!” Ashton hissed, stumbling as he was pulled out of the school and yanked towards the school bus. “Let go of me already!”

“No fucking way, dude! I’m making sure you’re joining Coon and Friends!” Cartman almost shouted as he dragged Ashton onto the bus, and Ashton forced himself not to roll his eyes at the boy. Seriously, what happened to him being able to choose the team he wanted to join?

He sighed, finally managing to pull his hand from Cartman’s hold. “Alright, fine! If it makes you let me go home in peace, I’ll join your side.” He hissed, clenching his fists at his sides and taking a deep breath. He could deal with this. He was originally planning on joining one at the start and switching about halfway through, anyway. He could cover more ground when looking for the other Supernatural, that way. He got onto the bus after Cartman, who hummed like he had just been given the juiciest secret in the universe. Ashton rolled his eyes, settling in his usual spot beside Kenny.

"Well, I'm stuck with Cartman now, apparently." He said as he sat beside Kenny. He set his bag carefully on his lap as Kenny groaned, letting his head hit the back of the bus seat.

"I pity you." Kenny said after a moment, voice slightly muffled by his signature parka, and Ashton shrugged again.

"I'll survive."

Kenny nodded, looking out the window and seeming to think about something. "So, I think you should know that everyone kind of already knows who's who, but when playing heroes we act like we know nothing."

Ashton nodded this time, resting his head on his bag. "That's actually very helpful. Cartman probably wouldn't let me know anything and yell at me because of it."

"Yeah, he's an ass like that."

"Why do you all hang out with him again?"

Kenny shrugged, sinking lower into the seat. "It's easier than arguing. We've tried a couple times in the past, and it never ended well."

Ashton nodded again, sighing softly. "I feel like this game is going to exhaust the hell out of me. I mean, last month's game was pretty freaking crazy."

Kenny barked out a short laugh, nodding. "Yeah, it was." He agreed, "Let's never get that crazy again."

"This is South Park, it's always going to be crazy."

Soon enough, the bus reached the usual bus stop and everyone filed off the bus. Ashton watched as Kenny looked around warily like he usually did, before his shoulders slumped and he relaxed. Ashton wondered why he did that so much- wondered if maybe Kenny was the one he was looking for before shaking his head. He couldn't be. Ashton would know if he was, and he was sure Kenny was normal. He was a little sex crazy, if stories were to be believed, but he was a quiet kid down on his luck that just wanted to live like everyone else. Ashton smiled to himself as he walked a little behind the lanky blond, thinking a little about how much Kenny had managed to surprise him in the past month.

He wondered if he'd surprise him even more these next couple of weeks.

When Ashton reached his home, he waved goodbye to the group, promised Cartman he'd go to his house after he got a costume together, and entered the house wearily. At the sound of static silence, Ashton sighed and walked in. At least there wasn't any arguing today.

He wandered upstairs, tossed his bag onto his bed as he passed his room, and stopped in front of his parents' room. He knocked on the door and opened it a moment later, smiling weakly at his mom as she looked up from her work.

"Oh! Welcome home, Ashy!" His mother cheered, strands of her long black hair falling out of the loose, messy ponytail she had tied it into as she stood up. She crossed over to his side of the room, hugging him tightly. "You never come to look for one of us immediately after you get home, what's up?" She moved back, studying Ashton's face, and it made him bite his lip self-consciously.

"Um... do you and dad still have pieces of your old super hero outfits?" He asked after a few moments, and his mother's grey eyes widened.

"Why do you want those?" She asked, stunned, before her eyes narrowed and she placed her hands on her hips. "Ashy, we told you we don't-"

"It's just for a game, mom." Ashton said quickly, not wanting to get caught in another 3 hour lecture on why trying to follow in his parents' steps was a terrible idea.

His parents had been heroes when they were in college- it was actually how they had met. They had stopped after a big accident that used up so much of his mother's energy she nearly died along with her abilities trying to save the lives of a small town in Illinois. Story is, her eyes used to be a vibrant violet much like Ashton's own. Ever since the accident, she'd been getting a little weaker each year, but it was so tiny Ashton hoped he'd never have to see her die until he was well out of college. Ashton's father had hung up his hero suit after whatever had happened with his mom, and now they were as normal as they could possibly get, aside from the fact the government was trying to hunt them down to experiment on them due to being Supernatural.

His mom frowned at being cut off, but after studying his face even longer, she sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and clicking her tongue. "Alright, fine. But you need to promise not to get caught doing this stuff, okay? We can't afford another move."

Ashton nodded quickly, doing the usual, "Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye" routine. He smiled as his mom motioned him over to the closet and opened it, pulling out two outfits of similar coloring.

"Pick and choose what you'd like from them. I'd recommend only the suit from mine, though. Your father's clothes won't fit and almost neon purple is _not_ a good color for your powers." His mom giggled, patting his arm, and Ashton laughed.

"Thanks, mom."

"Any time, sweetie." She said softly, going back to her desk and picking her work back up.

Ashton looked back at the outfits laid out on the bed, studying each one. What to pick?

He stood there for a while, debating, before grabbing his mother's suit, and his dad's jacket and mask. He could grab everything else he needed from his room.

He put away the other parts of the outfits, thanked his mother once again, and left for his room, humming idly as he pulled out some belts, his combat boots, and one of his less worn earrings. He changed quickly, admiring his handy work for a moment. He was shocked his mother's black bodysuit fit as well as it did- it wasn't tight in the slightest, and there was _still_ room to move around. His dad's dark grey, cropped jacket covered his arms nicely, and the studded belt resting lopsidedly on his waist added a small splash of light to the constant darkness surrounding him. The violet of his eyes almost glowed against the black fabric of the mask over them, and the silver star he usually had dangling from his right ear had changed to a silver moon. He smiled. He could work with this.

He gave a final nod to the mirror before slipping his phone into one of the pouches attached to his belt and striding down the steps.

Sitting at the couch was his dad; a tall, well-muscled man with graying black hair and brown eyes. Ashton got his powers from him. As he caught sight of Ashton he let out a wolf whistle, grinning playfully at Ashton. "Well, look at that. Who's the attractive hero who looks so much like my son?"

Ashton flushed darkly, groaning softly. "Dad, no." He whined, "You don't have to act like that ever single time I get a little dressy."

His dad laughed, standing up and ruffling Ashton's hair as he passed to the kitchen. "It's fun teasing you though." He opened the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water and tossing it to Ashton, who caught it with ease. "Anyway, seriously, Asher, what's your hero name going to be?" His dad pulled out another bottle of water and closed the fridge door, looking at his son with a small frown.

Thankfully, Ashton already had an idea for a superhero name. He had spent the entire day coming up with something until he had finally found on he liked best. "Umbra." He said with a smile, "I really like the name Umbra."

His dad's eyes lit up, mulling over the name for a moment. "I do, too." He agreed. "Well, Umbra." He said, walking over and placing a hand on Ashton's shoulder. He gave it a small squeeze. "I wish you luck in protecting the town."

Umbra smiled, nodding. His heart swelled in his chest, feeling proud that he was following at least a little in his parents' footsteps. "I'll do my best." He promised, before darting off to go to Cartman's.

South Park, it's time to meet Umbra.


	2. When Words Are Said

Umbra walked to the Cartman house, humming thoughtfully as he took in the abundance of red Legos scattered in front of his doorstep. After a moment of deliberation, he stepped closer to the door, avoiding the “lava” and knocking politely on the door. He could just slip into the house unnoticed, but he didn’t like the idea of going into Cartman’s house without letting his presence there be known by Mrs. Cartman.

Speaking of Cartman’s mom, the kind lady opened the door and smiled at the teen. “Oh! Hello Ashton. Eric and his friends are playing downstairs.” She said kindly, before looking at the legos scattered over the porch with an unsure frown. “Would you like me to let you in through the back?”

“No, that’s alright ma’am.” Umbra said politely, taking a wide step over the makeshift lava and slipping into the home with ease as Mrs. Cartman stepped out of the way.

“Have fun! I’ll bring you kids a snack in a little bit.” She promised, and Umbra thanked her before walking to their basement door. He studied the keypad attached to the side and wondered if he should bother trying to figure out the code or if he should just use his ability. After a few moments, Umbra shrugged and reached out to the shadow of the flower vase on the table, snatching the edge of it and stretching it to be in front of him. He stepped into the shadow and reappeared on the other side of the door, completely silent.

“Maybe we should go to Raisins and see if the waitresses know anything.” Clyde’s voice drifted towards Umbra, and he leaned over the rail to see into the dark, badly lit basement.

“That’s not enough, Mosquito!” Cartman said, “We have to act fast before the Freedom Pals can!” He held up one of the missing posters Umbra had been seeing all over the town, showing it to the rest of the group. “A $100 reward. Do you know what that could mean for our superhero franchise?!”

“That cat looks pretty old.” Kyle’s voice joined in, and it took Umbra a moment to realize he was the one with a large kite strapped to his back and dressed in a light blue and grey outfit.”Maybe he just died in a gutter somewhere.”

“Human Kite, do I have to remind you that as of right now Freedom Pals have a _hundred_ followers on Instagram?! We have _six_! The five of us and Billy Turner, who’s a ginger.” Cartman paused, no one else in the room looking particularly bothered by anything Cartman had said. “This is the key to finally beating those fuckers!”

“But where do we start looking?” Jimmy asked quickly, stumbling only slightly over his words. “The cat could be anywhere.”

Cartman stood from his seat, walking away from the table a couple of paces. “We need to split up. Mosquito! Take to the skies and check out the city parks.”

Clyde got out of his seat, letting out a small buzz and nodding slightly. “You got it! Mosquito, away!”

The jock held out his arms, pretending to fly and continuing to make that buzzing sound as he went up the stairs. Umbra gave him a small nod as he stepped back towards the wall to give the boy some room.

“Human Kite, see if the cat is stuck in a tree somewhere. You’ve got the storm drains, Super Craig.”

The boys who were addressed let out their own parting battle cries or sound effects, and it nearly made Umbra chuckle. At least they took the game and their personas seriously.

He hoped the rest of the way off the steps to allow clear passage, giving short nods to the others as they passed after being given their assignments.

“So the big danger that the town was facing is just a missing cat?” Umbra asked when he and Cartman were the only ones left. As he walked over to Cartman, he looked around the room. Well, it looked like Cartman’s ego had only grown, if all the Coon merchandise was any indication. Cartman jumped slightly in surprise, before schooling his expression and crossing his arms behind his back.

“Ah, Douchebag. Please, have a seat.” Cartman said calmly, motioning to the table while he sat down at one end. Umbra muttered over the nickname but went to the table, sitting at the other end.

“Alright so in order to play superheroes, you _have_ to have a superhero persona. Then, you can fill out your character sheet on Coonstagram.” Cartman eyed him, sniffing a little haughtily. “I see you’ve already got an outfit picked out.”

Umbra nodded, resting his elbows on the table and placing his head in his hands. “Yeah. I’ve also got a name and power picked out, too.”

“Alright, here then. Make a Coonstagram page.” Cartman slid his tablet across the table to Umbra, who caught it before it tried to slip off and made a page. To humor Cartman and make this initiation go faster, he left most of the sheet blank for now. Setting the tablet down, Umbra looked at Cartman, his signal to continue. “Ok, Douchebag… Now, we need to figure out what terrible thing in your past drives you.”

Cartman lifted his legs up, crossing them at the ankles as he rested his feet on the table and leaned back in his chair. “You see, Douche,” Umbra forced himself not to let the nickname get under his skin, but the longer Cartman used it instead of his name the more it burned. “All superheroes have a compelling backstory. It’s from that backstory that their powers gain meaning.”

“Yeah, I know, and I already-“

“Let’s take you back to when you were just a child…” Cartman cut Umbra off, which made Ashton glower at the boy and his fingers twitch with the urge to get him to shut up.

“Hang on, Cartman, you are not-“

“You lay awake that night… Like so many other nights you weren’t able to sleep because you knew you weren’t like the other kids… You walked to the mirror. You looked in the mirror and you felt alone. And that’s when it happened. A loud noise. You swore you could hear your mother calling for help.”

“Cartman, I don’t need whatever-“

“You left your room.” Cartman was getting into the story now even as Umbra’s frustration grew, going on and on about some fight with powers Ashton didn’t have but Cartman thought only right considering Umbra had listed himself as an “Elementalist”, until it finally ended with Umbra apparently walking into his parents rooms and being to late to stop his father from fucking his mom.

Umbra’s jaw dropped, and he stared at the other teen. Did he not attend sex ed?

Did South Park even _have_ sex ed?!

“Dude, what the hell? I’m not making that my backstory!”

“Then what _is_ your backstory?” Cartman growled in response, and Umbra snarled in return.

“I don’t have to tell you!” He snapped, defensive. He didn’t like talking about his actual origin story- didn’t even want to tell the person who couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it about it.

Silence descended upon the room, the two boys glaring at each other. Cartman was probably the one kid Umbra couldn’t stand in South Park, and here he was, stuck listening to him for at least a week until he was in the safe zone for switching teams and fighting to be able to create his own hero persona instead of the stupid one Cartman wanted him to have.

“Alright, whatever.” Cartman huffed in annoyance. “Now that you’re a hero, I need you to go out into town, and get us as many followers as you can on Coonstagram. It’s the only way out franchise will survive.”

Umbra fought back a frustrated growl, nodded, and pulled out his phone to install the app. “Fine. Let me know if you need me to do any other mission.”

He almost stomped up the steps, disappearing into the shadows and appearing outside by his own house. He looked at the mostly empty character sheet he needed to fill out, debating if he should just fill it out now and get it over with.

As Umbra stared at his phone, one of his text tones went off, alerting him to a video message as the banner notification fell. He tapped on it and Cartman- wait, the _Coon_ \- popped up.

“New Kid, Human Kite and Super Craig have both reported bad news- they have been compromised. Go to the locations of their distress signals and figure out what’s going on while you get followers.” Without another word, the video message ends, and Umbra frowned at his phone before shrugging. It would be nice to visit Craig and get away from Cartman’s bullshit for a few moments.

Umbra sighed, frowning at the ground. He hadn’t expected his good mood and excitement for the game to sour so quickly, all because Cartman wanted to create a character that Ashton wanted nothing to do with. Maybe he should have just let Cartman whine until his voice was gone and joined the Freedom Pals instead.

He shook his head. Well, it was too late to go back now for the week.

Umbra pushed off the wall with a sigh, deciding to go visit Craig first. Sure, his house was further away, but it meant that he could clear his head before speaking to anyone else.

So that was what he did.

\----

Mysterion leapt from the rooftops of his town’s homes, careful to keep his footing steady on the icy tiles.

He’d heard there was going to be a new superhero joining the fray, and he wanted a first look at the newbie. He looked around as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, looking for any sign of the new hero, when something caught his eye. He looked down, frowning as he focused on the shadowed part of Butters’ house. Something had moved, he was sure of it.

Frowning when he didn’t see any sign of something that could even _cause_ movement, Mysterion took a few steps back in order to jump across the gap between houses again. He was just about to leap across when his eye caught someone slipping out from around Butters’ garage.

Someone he had never seen before.

Mysterion yelped as his feet slipped off the roof of the house he was on, and he managed to grab onto the drainpipe before he fell, face flushing in embarrassment. This is seriously uncool.

He gasped as the new hero’s head turned in his direction and he dropped down the rest of the way, hiding behind trashcans. Shit, he really hoped he wasn’t seen- Mysterion’s first appearance needed to be mysterious and cool, not him slipping off a goddamn roof.

Mysterion peeked around the corner and sighed when he saw the newbie walking down the street, easily dodging around the kids set up for ambushes. He bit his lip, debating if he should follow or not, and decided that it might be worth checking him out.

The newbie walked calmly through the town, heading down the street to Craig’s house. Mysterion quickly climbed back onto the rooftops across the street and followed him, watching quietly. Newbie rang the doorbell, leaning lightly against the doorframe.

Super Craig opened the door, “Greetings, Citizen. It is I, Super Craig.” He said, holding a fist into the air as he gave off his usual battle cry. Mysterion rolled his eyes. Really, Super Craig could at least sound a little enthused, although he supposed the lack of enthusiasm was part of the charm. The newbie gave Super Craig two fingered salute and pushed off the doorframe.

“Afternoon, Super Craig.”

“You’re the newbie, right?” Super Craig asked, and Newbie nodded. “What’s your name?”

“Name’s Umbra.” Newbie said with a small grin, holding out a hand and giving it a firm shake. “I’m a Shadow Manipulator.”

Super Craig nodded, and Mysterion leaned a little closer to hear as Umbra continued to talk. “Do me a favor and ignore whatever the hell Coon is making up about me, cause I am what I am, not whatever farting vigilante he’s trying to create.”

Super Craig scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Coon doesn’t know when to stay out of other people’s business.” He agreed, and Umbra nodded once before changing the topic.

"Anyway, what'd you need help with?"

"Oh, right. Super Craig can't find his guinea pig. I'm not playing until I find Stripe." Craig explained, walking into the house a bit further to check around the room. "Stripe isn't any normal guinea pig, he belongs to me and my ex-boyfriend." He paused, breaking his emotionless composure to smile ruefully at Umbra for a second. "That's right, Super Craig is gay."

"Ah, no worries there dude. I'm gay, too." Umbra supplied, waving off Super Craig's concern. His voice sounded like he was smiling, and Mysterion wished he could see the new hero's face. "So let's go find Stripe, okay?" With that, Umbra stepped into Super Craig's home and the door was closed.

Mysterion continued to stare, mulling over the new information in his head. So the new hero was already having fights with Coon?

He grinned, nodding slightly. That could work to the Freedom Pals' advantage.

His phone beeped, reminding him of the fact he was running late, and he cursed softly under his breath. He pulled his phone from his pocket and opened the video call. "Hang on guys, I'm on my way there now!"

\---

A few hours after his first sighting of the Umbra, Mysterion was called for backup.

He went to Main Street, frowning when he saw just what was going on. Wonder Tweek and Super Craig were getting into another argument.

"We were supposed to be a duo, remember Tweek?"

"Yeah, I remember!" Tweek snapped, "So when I walked out on Coon and Friends, you should've walked out with me!"

"I _like_ Coon and Friends!" Super Craig defended as Umbra and Coon came up behind him.

"Yeah, because you have your own movies!" Wonder Tweek shouted, and Mysterion wondered if he really should be here with the others instead of let the couple work this out by themselves.

Human Kite's glare disappeared as he looked over at Umbra, sighing softly. "Thank god you're here! They're really going at it!"

"What's wrong?" Umbra asked, looking at the Freedom Pals.

"Super Craig had to have movies before Wonder Tweek was introduced! It made no sense otherwise!"

"Your whole group makes no sense!"

Mysterion watched as Umbra worried yet curious expression faded into one of exasperation, sighing heavily and pinching the bridge of his nose. He growled lowly as Coon started talking, insisting the Freedom Pals were traitors, and Mysterion could feel his patience snap. "This was started by you!" He snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at Coon and Friends, "By people who thought there should be preferential treatment to certain heroes!" 

"We aren't the ones who walked out of the fucking franchise, Msyterion!" Coon shouted, and before any more arguing could be done Umbra stepped forward.

"Okay, hold on a second!" He said, physically getting between the groups. "Can we talk about this _without_ turning it into a blame-game or shouting match?" He asked, and _no_ , they couldn't because Coon would never even try to listen if they didn't scream it at them, even though that wasn't working, either.

"Why are you even on their side!" Mysterion asked, pointing to Umbra. "You didn't even _try_ to see which one you liked better! Just went straight to that fatass and his lackeys!"

"For your information, Mysterion, I didn't have much of a say in the matter." Umbra said sternly, obviously trying not to raise his voice even as he glared at Coon. "And I'm not on anyone's side!" Mysterion growled, not quite believing him. The new guy's eyes kept darting around, like he was either lying, or trying to find something. It put Mysterion on edge.

Professor Timothy moved forward, focusing on Coon as he tried to communicate with him. Umbra looked confused, eyebrows furrowing as he looked between the Professor and Coon. "Get out of my head, Timmy." Coon warned, confusing Umbra even further.

"He just called us douchebags! In my mind." Coon said after another moment, as Professor Timothy smiled and lowered his hand. Coon lunged for Professor, but he used his ability to disappear and reappear at the other end of the street. Umbra gasped, eyes widening as he looked back and forth from where Professor had been only moments before and where he now turned the corner to escape from Coon. Mysterion smirked. He wasn't quite as alone as he once believed, seeing as Timmy had some sort of telepathic ability, and it was incredibly satisfying to see someone be so surprised by it. Mysterion watched as Umbra's surprise changed into excitement before turning into a smirk. The look in his eyes made Mysterion uneasy.

"Motherfucker!" Coon shouted angrily. "Coon Friends! Deal with these assholes!" Coon snapped, before running off after Professor Timothy.

"You're on the wrong side of this war, New Kid!" Mysterion said, getting into a defensive stance.

Umbra sighed heavily, stepping back to be in line with Super Craig. "I think I'll choose which side to be on for myself, thanks." He said  confidently, and Mysterion huffed.

"Freedom Pals, fight!" Mysterion declared, Tupperware and Wonder Tweek shouting their affirmations.

They'd show Umbra which side he was supposed to be on, one way or another.


	3. Mission: Start!

Well, that went horribly, horribly wrong.

Mysterion groaned, shaking the haze from his head as he sat up. He can’t believe _Coon and Friends_ kicked their asses, and it was all because of that Umbra.

_Each Freedom Pal took on their own Coon Friend, and Mysterion was glad he was the one who got to fight the newbie. It meant he could size him up. Learn about him and his abilities first hand. He smirked at the boy, thinking this would be an easy win. He’d been fighting far longer than this kid had, after all._

_Oh, how wrong he was._

_For the first few moments of the fight, Mysterion and Umbra had danced around each other, waiting for openings. They used hand to hand, far more coordinated than the others, who never actually learned how to properly fight or were using their special attacks more often._

_Then, Mysterion thought he had found an opening, and lunged._

_Too late, he noticed the smirk that quirked up the corner of Umbra’s lips, the twitch of his fingers. Mysterion let out a shout as he suddenly collided with the ground, something black and wispy wrapped around his wrists and ankles._

_“What the hell?!” He shouted, tugging against the restraints. Umbra closed the distance between them, thin black strands wrapped around his fingers and connecting to the restraints while he leaned down to look Mysterion in the eyes._

_“Sorry, Mysterion.” Umbra had said, a small purr to his voice and look in his glowing purple eyes that had Mysterion’s thoughts grinding to a halt and his body freezing. Umbra reached forward, fingers brushing against Mysterion’s chin and making the veteran hero jerk back. Umbra chuckled, before continuing his earlier sentence. “I’m afraid you’ve lost this fight.”_

_Mysterion growled, about to retort, when Umbra kicked him in the stomach and punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious._

Mysterion groaned in embarrassment, scrubbing his hands over his face. Well, there were two good things to consider here. The first being that Tupperware had gone down literally a second before he did.

The second being, at least someone had been kind enough to move them out of the road.

Sighing, Mysterion stood up, helping Tupperware and Wonder Tweek wake back up. When everyone was awake again, Mysterion gave them a second to process that they lost the fight before speaking. “We should head back to base. Professor Timmothy is probably waiting there.”

“Right.” Tupperware and Wonder Tweek responded, although Tweek seemed a lot less enthusiastic about it. Mysterion felt bad for the blond elementalist- he could only imagine how fighting your significant other was like.

They went back to their base, and Mysterion promised himself that he’d be ready for their next fight.

\----

“What have you found, Super Craig?” Coon asked as Super Craig examined Timmy’s phone underneath a microscope. Umbra was sure it was probably disorienting, but if that was how Super Craig wanted to examine the phone, so be it.

“Timmy’s phone has a bunch of notes in it. Something about a girl who has information about all the criminal activity in town.”

“What girl?!”

“It just says: Find the girl with the dick tattoo.”

“What girl in town has a dick tattoo?” Mosquito asked, and Umbra agreed. Why would anyone want a dick forever inked into their skin?

“I don’t know, Mosquito, but the Freedom Pals must think _she’s_ the key to finding the missing cat.” Coon explained calmly, and Human Kite frowned, turning around and beginning to pace.

“If the Freedom Pals find her before we do, they’ll get the $100 reward.”

“We can _not_ let that happen. We have to stop the Freedom Pals from having a sweet franchise. At all cost!”

“Then we have to find the girl with that tattoo _tonight_.” Fastpass exclaimed, and Umbra sighed to himself. Somehow, this seemed like it was going to end badly.

“Fastpass is right. We all have to sneak out of our houses tonight and search the entire town.” Super Craig explained, finally standing up, and Human Kite looked at Umbra.

“What do you say, Umbra? Are you up for it?”

Umbra was quiet for a few minutes, properly turning the thought over in his head. Eventually he nodded, smiling at the group. “Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun, I guess.” He said with a small laugh, and as everyone started to file out of the Coon Lair Umbra moved to follow.

He was stopped by Coon, who put a hand on his shoulder. “Listen, New Kid, I’m going to let you be a sidekick tonight to one of the Coon Friends.” Coon explained, and Umbra did his best not to roll his eyes at the nickname. “Go home and sneak out after your parents are asleep. I’ll fill you in later.”

“Okay.” Umbra said, watching as Coon went to the cardboard super computer or whatever it was. “Is that all you wanted to tell me?”

“Yeah, now get out of my house.”

Umbra did roll his eyes this time, giving Coon an exaggerated bow behind his back and heading upstairs. He thanked Mrs. Cartman for letting them hang out downstairs before going home.

He sighed as he entered the safety of his home, taking off the mask and scrubbing at his eyes. How could his dad stand wearing this so often? The fabric itched like crazy.

“Why’d you answer the phone in the first place?!” His mother hissed angrily from the kitchen, and Ashton winced. Oh, great.

“The school counselor called! It would have been even worse if I _hadn’t_ answered!” Ashton’s dad hissed back. “If we don’t act like normal, then the entire town might realize-“

“Stop being so paranoid! The school can just mind their own damn business! You didn’t have to answer them!”

“It’s what normal stay-at-home parents do, Reya! They answer the phone when-“

Ashton cleared his throat, interrupting his dad and making both his parents jump. He bit the inside of his cheek when they were looking at him, and he shifted his weight from side to side nervously. “I’m sorry if my actions caused us problems. Again.” He said softly, looking down.

He didn’t _like_ causing his parents to argue over things like this, and it wasn’t like he went out of his way to do it, but for his parents were so scared of being caught that their version of normal had become hiding away like hermits. Ashton was just trying to act like a normal teenager in South Park. It wasn’t his fault Cartman had forced him to go to the counselor and “talk about his gender”, and Mr. Mackey called his parents. He was just… trying to act normal.

“No, no!” His mother gasped, rushing forward and giving Ashton a tight hug. “Oh, sweetie, it’s not your fault. Your dad and I, we’re just… just facing a difference of opinion.” If she thought that was going to make Ashton feel better, she was wrong. It felt like rocks were sitting in his stomach. “You just keep doing what you need to do to stay on the down low, okay?”

He nodded slowly, and his dad stepped in, placing a hand on Ashton’s shoulder. “So, how was your first day as a superhero?”

“Boring. Frustrating. Interesting.” Ashton sighed, shrugging, before he decided to elaborate. “Cartman is an asshole who tried to make me into this weird superhero he wanted on his team and was trying to decided literally everything for me, then just made me wander around doing menial tasks instead of actually try to gain info.”

“Oof, that _does_ sound frustrating.” His mom agreed, and his dad nodded.

“And boring.” His dad added. “So what was the interesting part?”

Ashton beamed at them, then. “I think I found the other Supernatural!” He exclaimed, before telling them what happened earlier with the Freedom Pals. “No kid could move like that if he was normal, or communicate telepathically!”

His parents laughed softly, smiling at his excitement, and Ashton really did feel a bit better now. He liked when his family was like this, talking and listening and telling stories.

“It also seems like there’s something else interesting that happened.” His mom said, and Ashton’s excitement only grew as he thought back to the fight earlier.

“Oh, right! So after Timmy ran off, the rest of us ended up fighting the Freedom Pals one-on-one. I fought the hero Mysterion! He’s like, the _best_ fighter out of all of them cause he takes it seriously.”

“Really?” His dad asked with a small almost knowing hum, and Ashton tried to tell himself the heat in his cheeks was caused by how much smiling he had been doing. “How’d that go?”

Ashton smirked, shifting his weight to one foot as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I won.” He said smugly. “Used shadows to pin him to the ground and knocked him unconscious.”

“Not too hard, I hope!” His mom scolded, and Ashton held up his hands in surrender.

“I promise it wasn’t hard.” He explained, “I also made sure I didn’t use the majority of my abilities. I know which ones I want to use when playing this game, and I know how to mask them enough so that it looks like they’re fake.”

“Good.” His dad was the one to speak, this time. “Remember that, okay? We don’t want you to get hurt.” Ashton nodded, and his parents smiled.

“Now then, let’s get dinner started so you can get out there on your night patrol!”

\----

Ashton situated the mask over his eyes again, wondering who his partner was going to be. He hoped it was Craig. Craig was straightforward and nice to be around. He would turn a blind eye if Ashton somehow let his cover slip.

Plus, if it was Craig that meant it gave him a chance to figure out just how to get him and Tweek on calm talking terms again.

He grabbed his phone, slipping it into the pouch at his side, and headed downstairs. Time to become Umbra once again.

He slipped out of the house quietly, not wanting to wake his parents up. Something rustled in the bushes beside the porch, and Umbra got into a defensive stance, his guard up.

“Fear not! For it is I, Captain Diabetes!” Umbra relaxed, unable to stop the flash of disappointment he felt when he saw it was a kid he didn’t actually know instead of Craig. Oh well, he could still work with this.

“Evening, Captain Diabetes. My name is Umbra.” He said softly, giving the other hero a small bow in welcoming. No one ever said he couldn’t be a gentleman while being a hero.

“Nice to meet you, Umbra! What’s your power?” Captain Diabetes asked excitedly, and Umbra smiled. Maybe this kid wouldn’t be too bad- he seemed pretty nice.

“Shadow Manipulation.” Umbra explained, “Yours is… Diabetes?” He asked carefully, not wanting to somehow offend. He was just going off the hero’s name, after all.

Captain Diabetes nodded. “Yes! A mild-mannered gentleman with the power of diabetes at his control!” He turned, starting to walk away and towards wherever it was they were going. He motioned for Umbra to follow as he continued to speak. “I used to be a simple elementary school student, but then one day, a freak science accident turned my diabetes into superhuman strength!”

He looked over his shoulder at Umbra, grinning even as his tone turned serious. “Alright, sidekick. We’re supposed to investigate a girl who might know the location of the missing cat. Human Kite was kind enough to let us use his base while he’s gone to get to the location faster.”

“Alright. So we _do_ have a lead?” Umbra asked, but before Captain Diabetes could say anything, they noticed something odd.

“Fuckin’ bitch!” Mr. Marsh shouted drunkenly, scratching up the hood of his car with his keys. “Let’s see how you like this!”

“Well, that mystery’s been solved.” Umbra shook his head, disappointed in the older man. He pulled out his phone and took a picture for evidence while Captain Diabetes walked over to him.

“I am Captain Diabetes and this is my faithful sidekick!”

“Evening, Mr. Marsh.”

“Oh okay….” Mr. Marsh said easily, stepping back from his car and starting to stumble around to the other side. “Well move outta the way, huh? I need to go buy some more beer.”

“I’m sorry, but Captain Diabetes cannot let you drive!” Captain Diabetes grabbed the keys from Randy with ease, although it only served to make the man angry.

“HEY! Gimme my keys!” Randy slurred, stumbled forward as Captain Diabetes and Umbra stepped back.

“You are in no condition to drive, sir!”

“Hey, I say we give his wife the keys and get out of here before something bad happens.” Umbra said as Randy nearly fell over a good four or five times.

“I’m fine, ok? Look, wai-“ Randy stumbled, trying to stand upright as he lowered his voice. “Look, look… I’m fine…. Ok? Gimme my keys. Please.” Well, at least he was still polite while drunk.

“Mr. Marsh, you are drunk. Right now you should just go inside and sleep this off, alright?” Umbra started, taking a small step forward with his hands up, placating. “We’ll give your keys to your wife, and-“

“GIMME MY FUCKIN’ KEYS, YOU LITTLE SHIT!” Randy shouted, lunging for Umbra. Umbra ducked, twisting out of the way and grabbing Randy’s arms. He twisted them behind Randy’s back and held them there, nose wrinkling in disgust. He _reeked_ of alcohol.

“Mr. Marsh, you are in no shape to drive.” He stated, and Randy roared, tearing free of Umbra’s grip.

Umbra groaned, jumping back a few paces as Captain Diabetes charged at Randy. This was not how he had been expecting tonight to go.

The next ten minutes were spent dodging a drunk Randy and trying to get him to either leave them alone or pass out. Thankfully, Randy did in fact pass out after a bit, and Umbra sighed. “Alright, well… should we wake up Mrs. Marsh and give her the keys?” He asked, and Captain Diabetes frowned.

“I don’t want to wake her up or for Mr. Marsh to try and attack her for the keys... We should keep them, for now.”

“If you say so.” Umbra shrugged, feeling like that might not be the best idea but also feeling it would be easier to do as Captain Diabetes said. They were losing moonlight, after all.

Captain Diabetes led them to Human Kite’s base, the door of which had been mercifully left unlocked. They went to the attic, where Captain Diabetes began to further talk about his abilities and weaknesses while Umbra got the way to the Kite Express Line fixed. It was rather frustrating hat Kyle hadn’t moved the ladder to where it needed to be in order to reach the zipline, but it was only a minor interference so Umbra supposed they shouldn’t actually be too mad.

Captain Diabetes grabbed the first zipline holster, and Umbra followed him without another word.

“The fearless hero and his sidekick descend into the dark night.” Captain Diabetes narrated as they traveled across town. “Ready to strike down evil and bring peace to the city.” He paused, looking back at Umbra with a curious look in his eyes. “Hey, you don’t think people get diabetes cause their mother farted on them during childbirth, do you? I-I feel like Coon made that up to make Captain Diabetes feel insecure about himself…”

“Coon’s an idiot.” Umbra said, not missing a beat. “And has some weird obsession with farting. Don’t listen to him.” When they got close to the ground Umbra jumped off, momentum carrying the holster all the way to the end.

South Park was… scary at night, to say the least. The adults were all outside, shouting and fighting, and completely drunk like no tomorrow.

“As you can see, Sidekick, at nighttime South Park is quite a different place.”

“Dude, how long has it been like this?!” Umbra asked, looking at Captain Diabetes with wide eyes.

Captain Diabetes hummed in thought as he started walking towards their destination, before shrugging. “A couple of months, I believe. Anyway, we have to get to the Peppermint Hippo. To the town square!”

Umbra followed Captain Diabetes with a frown, looking around. His worries dimmed a little bit when he noticed that most of the adults were attending some sort of concert. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as Umbra thought.

“If only there was a way to disperse these citizens blocking the road!” Captain Diabetes exclaimed as they passed the concert and were met with a solid wall of people. “My diabetic rage will do just the trick!”

The brown-haired boy took a big long drink of apple juice, and Umbra stepped back as he suddenly spazzed out and lifted the port-a-potty off the ground, knocking it down on its side. Umbra winced. He would hate to be the person in there right now.

Thankfully, it did the trick and the wall of people stepped away, creating an open path.

“Oh god, it’s too much… Need insulin… Need insulin fast…” As Captain Diabetes spoke he grabbed one of the needles and bottles strapped to a belt over his shoulder, giving himself the insulin shot. A few seconds later he was perfectly fine, grinning at Umbra. “And I am back to normal. You see how masterfully I can control my diabetes.”

Umbra nodded, and they went on their way to Peppermint Hippo.


	4. A Rivalry Is Born

“Here’s where we’re going to find the girl…”

“A strip club?” Umbra deadpanned, staring up at the sign with disgust.

Now, he had no problem with strippers. He knew it was how they made money and he hoped that they enjoyed their work, but seeing women- especially the kind of women that lived in South Park- dressed in little to no clothing just didn’t sit right with Umbra.

While it made other guys hot and horny, it made Umbra want to step far, _far_ away and politely decline. He didn’t find it hot, it didn’t get him going, and most of the time, he was uncomfortable and ended up feeling a little sick to his stomach.

“We aren’t even 21.” He added as Captain Diabetes walked over to the entrance. “They aren’t going to let us in.”

“Oh, don’t worry so much.” Captain Diabetes said, waving off Umbra’s words. Umbra sighed, shaking his head a little as he followed the teen into the strip club.

The bouncer glanced up from his magazine, eyeing the two of them warily. “Can I see some ID?” He asked, “No one under 21 is allowed.”

“Stand aside, citizen! It is I, Captain Diabetes! I must speak with the ladies inside!”

“If you won’t show me any ID, get out of here before I fuckin’ throw you out.” The bouncer warned, and Umbra grabbed Captain Diabetes’ wrist.

“Dude, he’s serious. Let’s just go.” Umbra said, tugging lightly on the other’s wrist. Thankfully, Captain Diabetes was under the same impression, so they left without another word. “Come on, I have an idea.”

 _This would be so much easier if I could just use my powers_ , Umbra thought, walking over to the side of the building where a dumpster and payphone innocently sat. _We could just shadow travel inside_.

Umbra walked over to the dumpster, the lid of which was propped open by an old umbrella. With Captain Diabetes still having a ways to go in order to come around the corner, Umbra stepped close and snagged the umbrella’s shadow with his own, giving it a tug. The umbrella fell with the shadow, causing the lid of the dumpster to slam shut right as Captain Diabetes rounded the corner.

“Why’d you come running over here after you said you had an idea, sidekick?” He asked curiously, and Umbra laughed weakly.

“Oh, just excited to show you the idea.” He lied easily, before pointing to the payphone. “Use your diabetic rage to knock this over, if you can. Then we can sneak in through the bathroom window.”

“Of course!” Captain Diabetes exclaimed, grinning. “Stand aside, sidekick!”

Captain Diabetes gulped down another apple juice, getting angry and tearing the phone from its bolted stand on the ground. Umbra’s jaw dropped.

He hadn’t _actually_ thought it would work.

Watching as Captain Diabetes gave himself another insulin shot, Umbra realized his work determining who the other Supernatural in South Park was, was _not_ going to be easy.

\----

Mysterion was making his nightly rounds when he heard it; the screams and shouts of a fight. They were coming from the Peppermint Hippo.

He ran for the stripper club, cape flying behind him as he jumped onto Bucca de Faggochinni’s roof and turned to see the fenced in lot between the two buildings.

A stripper Mysterion recognized as Classi ran out of the Peppermint Hippo, shouting something about cops before she started banging on the Italian restaurant’s door.

“Ay! Let me in, you asshole! The cops are here!”

“What? Get inside!” A man said, opening the door. Classi ran inside while the man stepped outside, closing the door behind him and pulling out a gun.

Umbra and Captain Diabetes came running out of the Peppermint Hippo, Umbra’s face almost stark white. “What the _fuck_ was that chick?” Mysterion heard him mumble, “That’s going to give me nightmares for weeks, holy hell.”

Mysterion smirked, glad to see the other hero so shaken up about something.

“Go on, scram!” The man with the gun shouted. “I ain’t afraid to use this thing…”

Mysterion lurched back as the man fired the gun straight up, not wanting to die tonight. The bullet broke through the flimsy support of the neon sign on the building, and the entire structure went crashing down on top of the man, eliciting a short, terrified yelp from Umbra.

“What. The. _FUCK?!”_

Mysterion wasn’t entirely sure why, but he laughed. Maybe it was because someone finally showed an appropriate reaction to being killed, or because it was the smug bastard Umbra himself. All Mysterion knew was that he was laughing, almost doubled over from it, and he was suddenly tripping over the ledge and falling towards the ground.

“Whoa!” He yelped as he toppled over the edge. He reached for the ledge but was a second too late in trying to grab it. He grit his teeth, closing his eyes and preparing for impact.

Okay, maybe he was going to die tonight.

Instead of a hard impact with the ground, though, Mysterion crashed into something else entirely. Something that made an “oomph!” when he landed.

His eyes flew open to see he was on top of Umbra.

“Ah, good evening, Mysterion.”

Mysterion scrambled to his feet, glaring at the two Coon Friends in front of him. “Neither of you saw that, you hear me?” He hissed, pointing at them threateningly. He had a reputation to uphold, after all.

Captain Diabetes nodded almost violently, which made Mysterion feel a little bit better, but Umbra’s smug smirk was back, and he _giggled_ while he nodded. “You know,” He said, a laugh in his voice that _definitely_ didn’t want to drive Mysterion up a wall, “You’d be a lot more threatening if your cheeks weren’t a bright red.”

Belatedly, Mysterion realized his hood had fallen down and he could feel more heat rush to his face as he pulled it back up, making sure his face was properly shadowed once again.

“Shut up.” He hissed, before looking between the two and the door. “Just what are you two doing, anyway?”

“We don’t have to tell you.” Captain Diabetes huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Right. They were on the other side.

“Well, it looked like you were chasing Classi—the girl with the info on the crime activity in South Park.” Mysterion said, stepping forward and examining the dead man and crushed sign. “And now the three of us are trapped here.”

“We aren’t trapped!” Captain Diabetes exclaimed, stepping forward. “I can use my Diabetic Rage to-“

“Wait!” Umbra gasped, stepping close and stopping Captain Diabetes from grabbing a juice box. “You don’t have any more insulin!”

“I don’t?” Captain Diabetes patted his pockets, eyes widening in surprise. “I don’t!” He looked at Umbra. “Gee, thanks for noticing! That would have been awful if you hadn’t!”

Umbra stepped back, placing a hand on his chest as he sighed in relief. “Close one.” Mysterion caught him mumbling, and Mysterion was inclined to agree.

“Anyway,” Umbra started, looking at Mysterion. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“I was out on patrol and heard a commotion from this way. Decided to see what it was, and found you guys.”

“Ah.” Umbra hummed, smug smirk returning as he placed his hands on his hips and leaned in close. “And falling into my arms was just mere coincidence?” He said in that same voice he had used earlier that day before knocking Mysterion unconscious. Mysterion growled in warning, ignoring how his stomach seemed to flutter at the sound while Umbra laughed. “Ooo, feisty.”

“Can we just get out of here now?” Mysterion growled, forcing himself not to punch that grin right off of Umbra’s face.

“How? I can’t move that sign.” Captain Diabetes explained with a small frown, and the trio fell quiet for a few minutes. Mysterion studied the fallen sign. Maybe they could move it if all three of them pushed as hard as they could.

“Captain Diabetes, tell Coon and the others we found Classi and need backup.”

“Got it.”

Movement appeared in the corner of Mysterion’s eye, and he watched as Umbra crouched next to the sign, studying something intently before fiddle with whatever he found.

He started walking over, wondering what he was doing, when Umbra shook his head and stood up with a sigh.

“Okay, well…” The newest hero sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and placing his other hand on his hip. “I’ve got an idea, but I need you two to _promise_ not to tell anyone until I give the okay.”

“What’s that, sidekick?” Captain Diabetes asked, and Umbra looked at Mysterion waiting for his confirmation, too. Mysterion sighed.

“I promise not to tell the Freedom Pals about this. Call it thanks for saving my stupid ass falling off the roof and keeping quiet about it.” He said gruffly. What could be so special the others couldn’t know?

Umbra sighed again, walking over and grabbing their hands. Mysterion frowned, looking from their hands to Umbra, who looked just about as pleased as Mysterion did. “Don’t let go of my hands, you got that?” Umbra said sternly, before pulling them towards the sign.

Confused, Mysterion followed him blindly, eyes widening when he saw the shadows of the sign were out of place. Before he could ask just what he was doing, Umbra pulled him and Captain Diabetes under the sign, and everything around them turned pitch black.

It felt like ice had coated Mysterion’s skin while Umbra led them through the sea of black, staring at the back of Umbra’s head with wide eyes. He couldn’t find words.

“Where are we?!” Captain Diabetes asked, shocked, and Umbra shrugged.

“Well, the simplest answer is that we’re in a shadow right now.” He explained, pausing for a moment to look around. “Ah, there’s the exit we need.” He murmured, turning to the right.

“How can you-?”

Before Mysterion could even finish asking his question, the three of them were in a hidden, extremely shadowed corner of Bucca de Faggochinni, and Umbra was letting go of their hands.

“Alright, here we are.” Umbra said softly, rubbing at an eye tiredly. “Don’t expect me to do that again. Three people at once is exhausting.”

Mysterion could only stare.

He wasn’t the only one with an actual power?


	5. Strippers and Drunks, Ahoy!

“Okay, so, where do you think she went?” Umbra asked, looking around for Classi and very pointedly not looking at Mysterion or Captain Diabetes.

Mysterion couldn’t believe what he had just witnessed. He wasn’t the only one in town with a supernatural ability.

The thought nearly sent him reeling.

“Mysterion. Hey.” Fingers snapped right in his face, and Mysterion yelped, leaning back in surprise. Umbra was leaning forward, holding out his hand in front of Mysterion’s face like he was ready to snap his fingers again. “Where do you think Classi went?”

“I don’t know.” Mysterion responded with a roll of his eyes. “Why don’t you ask your teammates?” He pointed to the trio at the table watching the front door, and Umbra turned around to look at who Mysterion was talking about.

“Ah! Okay, we should go there….” Umbra whipped back around to look at Mysterion, placing a hand on his hip and leaning forward as he pointed at him. “Don’t move.” He warned, before he and Captain Diabetes went over to Coon, Human Kite, and Mosquito.

Mysterion rolled his eyes, huffing as he leaned back against the wall. Please, like he was going to leave _now_. First off, they were in serious danger now that there were actually guys with guns involved, and most of the teams wouldn’t be able to get away unscathed. Secondly, he wanted to learn more about Umbra. The kid managed to get them inside the restaurant in seconds, without moving the destroyed sign at all.

If Umbra had an ability like him, Mysterion wanted to know.

A few moments later, and Captain Diabetes and Umbra were coming back over. Captain Diabetes looked impassive, but Umbra was nearly fuming beside him, so Mysterion could guess what happened.

“So where’d Classi go?” Mysterion asked, admittedly a little smug. _His_ team wouldn’t have let her slip away.

“Shut up, Mysterion.” Umbra hissed, heading towards the back of the restaurant. “She better be back here or I’ll punch Cartman into next week.” The newbie muttered, and Mysterion wondered just what Coon had done or said that had their newest recruit already planning his murder.

The trio carefully went into the kitchen, trying not to alert the cooks to their presence. It’d be better to sneak through undetected instead of fight, after all. “Look! Classi must have gone that way.” Captain Diabetes exclaimed quietly, pointing to the far right corner of the room. “But it’s barricaded… and we can’t let the cooks find out we’re here.”

“Umbra, do that trick of yours again.” Mysterion whispered, and Umbra frowned, shaking his head.

“I told you, three people at once is exhausting, I’d rather not risk being dead on my feet in case we have to fight.”

“Do you have any other ideas, then?” Mysterion asked, because he sure as heck didn’t. Not without them fighting off the cooks before moving any number of the things blocking the door, at least, and he’d rather _not_ cause a big commotion.

Umbra glowered at him, and Mysterion smiled smugly. He knew he was right.

Umbra groaned softly, frowning as he looked around. “Alright, fine. Grab my hands, and on the count of three, lean back into these flour bags.”

Mysterion nodded, grabbing Umbra’s hand while Captain Diabetes did the same. “One,”

“Two,”

“Three!”

Mysterion leaned back, and the world around them turned to black.

\-----

Umbra stood up almost immediately after they entered the shadows, pulling the other heroes up with ease. He started leading them forward, looking for the right shadow to step out of.

Shadows were interesting, Umbra noticed. They were all connected in some way, and yet whenever he traveled between them they only connected to certain ones. A building had their own specific pathways, and you couldn’t pass building to building, but a tree’s shadow could either take you to the nearest structure, or halfway around the world. A person’s shadow limited them to whatever building they were in or by, and people they knew. In order to use a person’s shadow, though, Umbra would have to stretch and lift it off the ground so he could step through it.

“This is so cool…” Captain Diabetes whispered as Umbra dragged them through the darkness. Umbra didn’t respond, too focused on trying to find a shadow in the next room over.

Here, in the shadows, there were no wisps of shadows reaching out to him, making him dizzy if he stared for too long. Instead, it was like the world had become inverted. Where light once touched became complete darkness with no obstacles, just a deep, dark emptiness. Where shadows rested, wisps of light gray floated.

He could feel his energy steadily draining the longer he had to keep all three of them there, even though a second will have just barely passed during the entire journey between shadows. Umbra spotted the best shadow out of the bunch in the room- the one with the most space to step out of, and pulled the others over to it before stepping through.

There was no bright, blinding light; the world around them just reappeared like a steady stream of water pouring over them.

Umbra dropped the hands he held, exhaustion settling deep into his bones. If he had to guess, he’d have a few more tricks up his sleeves and no shadow traveling left for the day.

He heard Captain Diabetes talking through his communicator to Coon, heard Mysterion doing the same for the Freedom Pals because, yeah, he was pretty sure half the cats in town here locked in carriers back here and that wasn’t good.

Umbra could barely focus on them, though. He was rubbing his eyes, trying to keep the sleep out of them long enough to actually finish this mission and sleep.

“You gonna make it?”

Umbra paused, lowering his hand to glare at the owner of the too smug voice. Mysterion was smirking and acting smug again, damn it. On the bright side, it was more out of playfulness than anything.

At least, he sure hoped it was because he was _not_ in the mood to take the bait right now.

“I’ll be fine.” He said calmly, lowering his hands and heading for the only other door in the room. “But seriously, no more shadow traveling. I’m barely able to keep my eyes open as it is.”

“You got it.”

Umbra took a deep breath, pointedly ignoring the smirk he could hear in Mysterion’s voice.

“We’re so close, I can smell it!” Captain Diabetes said proudly, “Come on, sidekick! Mysterion!”

Umbra chuckled under his breath. It was cute how Captain Diabetes was so into this, even as a Freedom Pal ended up joining for the current time all because he fell off a roof and got stuck with them in the back lot of the restaurant. He just wished the other teen would stop calling him sidekick every five seconds.

“Hold on sidekick, sounds like trouble could be behind that door.” Captain Diabetes said as they drew close and muffled voices came through from the other side. “There’s someone in there. Get ready…. One. Two. Diabetes!”

With a shout, Captain Diabetes charged into the door, Umbra and Mysterion following close behind. The group of people in the room fell silent, turning to look at them. Classi stood in the back, frowning and pointing at them.

“See! I _told_ you the cops were chasing me!”

“And you led them here, you stupid bitch?!” The man closest to her shouted. Classi blinked in surprise before glaring at the man, placing her hands on her hips.

“Uh-uh, who you calling a stupid bitch?! Do I _look_ like your mama?”

“The jig is up, Classi!” Captain Diabetes said, and the man furthest to the left pushed his chair further back.

“These kids are cops?!”

The man who had his back facing the trio stood, pointing at the group. “That ain’t no cop… That’s Captain Diabetes!” He looked over his shoulders at his buddies, “When he was born his mom farted during labor and it gave him diabetes that he uses to fight crime!”

“That is _not_ how people get diabetes!”

The man on the left stood, and Umbra got into a defensive position when the man in front of them pulled out a gun. Mysterion did the same on his right, while Captain Diabetes took a hesitant step back, clearly caught off guard.

“if they aren’t cops- then we can shoot ‘em! Along with _this_ bitch, too!” The man on the left said, and the other two men still sitting stood up. The superhero trio slowly moved around to stand next to Classi, trying to keep space between them and the man with the gun.

“Aw shit, y’all are turning on me?! I knew I shouldn’t have went into business with y’all Tony Soprano-looking motherfuckers!” Classi snapped, and Umbra had to give the lady credit for being so fearless when a gun was being pointed in her direction.

“So long… Captain Diabetes.” The man with the gun said, cocking the gun and aiming it at Captain Diabetes. Mysterion looked ready to spring into action beside Umbra. “Let’s see your diabetes save you know!”

“Uh oh…” Captain Diabetes muttered, and Umbra twitched his fingers, creating small, threadlike strands of shadows around his fingers and using his shadow to reach for the gun’s. If he could snag the gun’s shadow he could redirect the aim to either the ground or ceiling.

Mysterion moved the moment the man looked like he was about to shoot, the door bursting open at the same time. Mysterion and Umbra both froze as Randy Marsh came stumbling in and grabbed the man with the gun, causing him to drop it. Mysterion moved then, grabbing the gun as he tucked and rolled out of Randy’s way.

“I WANT MY KEYS!” Randy roared, before throwing the man he had grabbed into the wall. Classi screamed and Umbra jumped back, holding out his arm protectively in front of Classi.

“Stay there.” Umbra warned, watching warily as Randy proceeded to beat up the men with ease. The men ran off, and Umbra tensed as Randy’s gaze turned to them.

“All right, Captain Diabetes…” Randy slurred, swaying side to side as he struggled to stay upright, “THIS IS IT…. Give me…. My _fuckin’_ keys!”

“YOU are in no condition to drive!” Captain Diabetes insisted, and Umbra could only stare.

“Then die!” Randy growled, lunging for Captain Diabetes. Umbra cursed, acting on instinct and yanking on Randy’s shadow with the strands he had wrapped around his fingers. Randy stopped short in the lunge, falling flat on his face.

Randy started to stand, but before he could do anything Mysterion jumped in, kicking Randy further back from the others. “Classi! Get out of the way, now!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Classi agreed, rushing over to the bar and taking refuge just behind the counter.

Captain Diabetes tackled Randy, punching him twice before getting thrown off. Randy snarled, stumbling forward and punching Mysterion in the chest. Mysterion grunted but barely looked fazed, throwing his own punch at Randy. Umbra darted forward, swiping Randy’s feet out from under him and wrapping more threads of shadows around his wrists and ankles.

Umbra yelped as Randy grabbed his ankle, yanking him down. Umbra let out a grunt as he slammed into the ground, and he kicked Randy in the face when he tried to attack Umbra while he was down. Captain Diabetes let out a shout, charging forward again and punching Randy in the stomach.

Randy roared and knocked Captain Diabetes off him with a wide swing, punching the teen in his side before standing up. Mysterion moved in to attack, landing a series of punches on Randy before dodging an attack. Umbra leapt to his feet as Randy came after him next, a broken shard of glass in his hand. Umbra yelped as Randy thrust the glass forward in an attempt to cut him, just barely dodging it as he grabbed Randy’s arm and twisted it around so it was behind his back.

“Drop the glass, Mr. Marsh!” He said sternly, wincing as Randy’s wild struggling managed to knick Umbra’s forearm. “Shit, can someone knock him out already?!” Randy growled, breaking free of Umbra’s hold and slashing at Umbra as he turned.

Umbra gasped, stumbling back to avoid getting his abdomen cut.

The fight went on for a while, Randy refusing to go down even as Umbra used the strings of shadows to trip him more often than not, and Captain Diabetes and Mysterion kept knocking him to the ground before throwing a few punches or kicks. Finally, though, Randy collapsed, promising to take a cab before falling unconscious.

The three heroes panted, watching Randy with wary eyes. When it seemed he really wasn’t about to get back up, they relaxed.

Umbra sighed, letting himself fall to the floor. He was _exhausted._ “Yeah, I’m down for the count, fight wise.” He said softly, glaring at Mysterion when he let out a small laugh.

“Really? That one fight is all you can handle?” The hooded superhero taunted, and Umbra resisted the urge to flip him off.

“Hey, I had to carry your heavy ass through shadows.” He retorted, making Mysterion glower at him.

“Watch it, Umbra.” Mysterion warned, and Umbra smirked smugly for a moment before waving his hand at him.

“Alright, I admit, you’re actually pretty gosh dang light.” He said honestly, sitting up. "I apologize if I hit a sore spot."

“Thank you.” Mysterion tensed slightly at the sound of feet running towards the room, and Umbra knew it was his cue to leave. “Shit.” Mysterion cursed softly under his breath, “If Coon sees me I’m screwed.”

He looked around the room before noticing a nearby vent. He gave Umbra a wave before he quickly hid himself away in the vent right as Coon, Mosquito, and Human Kite came into the room.

“All right, all right, shit! Look, all I know is that there’s a kingpin trying to get new high grade drugs out on the streets!” Classi explained without even giving Coon a chance to ask a question, “It’s somebody trying to bring the Italian and Chinese crime families _together_ and shit!”

“Enough small talk!” Coon demanded, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the missing cat poster. “Where is Scrambles?!”

Classi stared at them for a moment, as if checking to see if they were seriously asking her that. “Scrambles?”

“We need this money for our superhero franchise!” Cartman explained, and oh, Umbra could practically _feel_ the held-in laughter radiating off Mysterion, who was probably waiting to see if he could get any information for the Freedom Pals.

“Oh shit, y’all just want a cat?”


	6. Extremely Tired Teenager

Umbra, at this point, could barely keep his eyes open. Classi’s stories had started to blur into each other a half hour ago, and Umbra, as much as he wanted to pay attention, was dead on his feet.

He had his head resting on his arms, looking at Classi as she spoke.

“So, then there’s Cisco. He just some low-class asshole, started working two months ago. He be talkin’ all this shit about makin’ money off the crime in the city cuz some big shot white boy be runnin’ all the drugs and all the hookers and shit, right? “ Classi said, filing away at her long nails without a care in the world.

“Oooookay…” Coon said, probably confused or wishing she’d get to the point. Umbra buried his head in his arms, sighing softly.

“Uh-uh, but not me. I’m my _own_ pimp, you know what I’m sayin’? It’s like, I got one investment in this world and that’s my pussy. I ain’t putting’ no mortgage on that to some high-payin’ nigga talkin’ bout trying to make more money off crime and shit.”

“I hear that.” Umbra mumbled tiredly, raising a hand for a high five without even realizing he was doing it. Surprisingly, Classi returned the action, and Umbra dropped his hand like it was a lead weight as Coon finally interrupted the long, long story.

“I’m sorry, but, w-what about the cats?”

“Oh, the cats? Ok, that’s this little Asian freak named Yakibaba or some shirt. He goin’ around payin’ all these little sixth graders to take people’s cats. That’s fucked up! I think takin’ that pussy like takin’ mine, you know what I’m sayin’? That’s like criminal shit.”

“Where do the cats _go_?” Human Kite asked, and Classi looked up from her nails.

“I can tell you… but I ain’t sayin’ _shit_ until I know I’m safe, you understand? These niggas ain’t playin’ and I need to know you gonna protect my ass!”

“Eric Cartman!”

Umbra sat up quickly, turning around to look at Mrs. Cartman as she stood on the staircase.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?! This is a _school night_!” She demanded, and Umbra wasn’t sure if he should be embarrassed she caught them, or crazy thankful because that meant he could actually go home and _sleep_ like Captain Diabetes had been allowed to.

“Mom, not now. We’re seriously on to something.”

“You kids all get home _now_ or I’m calling your parents!” Mrs. Cartman said sternly, and that got everyone moving. Human Kite, Super Craig, and Mosquito all went running up the steps, but Umbra took his time, glad he was actually tired so he could bide his time. He stretched as Fastpass made his way around the table, feeling his bones pop a little bit.

“And who is this stripper woman?” Mrs. Cartman asked.

“These Coon Friends offered me protection.” Classi explained simply, and Umbra was about to offer her staying at his home, where he _knew_ she’d be fine, when Coon had Fastpass do it instead.

Well, that just made things easier on Umbra. Silently, he thanked the gods that he didn’t have to walk the short distance home as Coon and his mom went upstairs and Umbra followed soon after, not wanting Mrs. Cartman to think he was staying. He went outside and turned the corner, slipping into the shadows and reappearing right on top of his bed.

He yawned loudly and changed out of his hero costume into pajamas, falling asleep not even a moment later.

\----

Ashton wanted to throw his phone at the wall.

He lifted his head from his pillow, blinking sleep out of his eyes just enough he could see in the darkness without it being a big, blurry mass.

His alarm was cheerily playing _Blue_ from Heathers, completely unaware of the plight of its owner. To appease some of the frustration he was feeling, Ashton threw one of the smaller pillows on his bed at the phone, knocking it off its charger.

It continued playing its song innocently, which on the one had had Ashton’s cheeks turning bright red because while he enjoyed it, the song embarrassed the hell out of him, and on the other hand it had Ashton getting more and more frustrated because dear _god_ just let him sleep. He just wanted to sleep, was that so wrong?

“Asher, you need to get up, bud!” His dad called from the other side of the door. “I get you got home late last night but school’s a-waitin’!”

Ashton let out a loud groan to show his displeasure as he got up and strode across the room to his phone, picking it and the pillow up from the floor. He tossed the pillow back onto his bed and finally turned off the song. He got dressed and grabbed his bag, sighing heavily as he went down the steps and to the kitchen.

His dad was already there, pouring a cup of coffee. He looked incredibly amused, and Ashton glowered at him in response. “Long night?” His dad asked, and to Ashton’s relief the coffee he had been pouring was for him.

Ashton took the mug and added sugar and cream before practically inhaling the drink. “Cartman sucks.” He grumbled, and his dad laughed, pouring him another cup of coffee. He added sugar and cream again, but he didn’t immediately gulp it down, instead staring into the caramel colored drink. “Does using your powers a lot drain your energy, too?”

His dad nodded, making himself a cup of coffee. “Yep. There were days, much like you’re facing right now, where I’d need to sleep for 10 hours straight in order to be completely awake. “ He smiled, laughing softly. “On days where I had to go to school, I’d drink lots of coffee and do my best to stay on the move.”

“So I’m doomed to becoming exhausted every time I need to pick up where others lack in order to progress the mission?”

“You have to travel with multiple people last night, huh?”

Ashton nodded, setting down his coffee and getting the cereal from the pantry. “Yeah, the, uh, mission didn’t _quite_ go as innocently as it should have.”

“Yes, I can imagine that.” Ashton’s father said with a rueful smile. “Your friends’ little make-believe fantasy game last month almost ended pretty badly.” He frowned, then, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “I just wish I could remember exactly what happened.”

Ashton’s eyes widened. “Wait, it’s fuzzy for you, too?!” He asked, and his father nodded.

“I remember you telling me about how the government tried to take you, and... then I can’t really remember anything after that. I… think remember you being panicked about something, but…” His father sighed, rubbing his temples tiredly. “I can never recall just what it was.”

“So… If neither of us remember the end, and no one else remember it, either…” Ashton started, gears in his head turning and slowly trying to piece together the missing pieces. He gasped, straightening up and grinning at his dad. “Then the real Supernatural must be affecting us!”

His dad chuckled, smiling. “I thought you said Timmy was probably the Supernatural.”

“I watched a kid tear a bolted-down payphone out of concrete do to his diabetes.” Ashton deadpanned, “Clearly, the obvious oddities aren’t going to help.”

“Yeah…” Ashton’s dad sighed, shaking his head. “South Park’s odd like that.”

Ashton nodded, starting to eat his breakfast as he thought a bit harder about who the Supernatural could be.

After a few minutes of wracking his brain, Ashton groaned and took another long drink of coffee. He was too tired to figure this out right now.

“Don’t worry your little head over this right now, Ashton.” His dad chuckled, “Today, you need to focus on staying away during classes.” Ashton let out an even louder groan.

\----

Kenny kicked at the snow banks along the sidewalks, thinking over the last 24 hours. He still couldn’t wrap his head about what he learned about the newbie. He had actual powers?

It had to be some sort of trick. Kenny was the only one he had ever met to have any actual ability….

Wasn’t he?

He didn’t know. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

He couldn’t stop himself from want to learn more about the other hero, though. Even if he infuriated him sometimes.

The sound of a door opening pulled Kenny from his thoughts, causing him to look up. Ashton was walking out of his house, saying goodbye to his dad. Kenny smiled beneath his parka, waving when Ashton turned towards the street.

Ashton returned the wave, looking utterly exhausted even from this far away. Kenny’s smile fell a little in turn. “What time did you go to sleep?” He asked as Ashton came over and they started the rest of the trek to the bus stop.

“Not long enough.” Ashton declared, holding up a thermos and motioning like he was giving a toast before taking a long drink from it. He reached into his satchel, pulling out a small paper bag and handing it to Kenny. “Here you go, today’s breakfast and lunch.”

“I keep telling you, you don’t have to do this.” Kenny huffed shyly, and Ashton rolled his eyes, taking another drink from the thermos as Kenny pulled out the breakfast item of the day from the bag before putting it in his backpack.

“Dude, I want to.” Ashton explained, lips quirking up into a smile as Kenny took a bit of the doughnut. “You’re skin and bones, Ken. It’s sweet how you want to help Karen stay happy and healthy but you shouldn’t waste away doing it.”

Kenny pouted, looking away as he took another bite of doughnut. “I wasn’t wasting away.” He grumbled after swallowing, and when he looked at Ashton again, his friend definitely didn’t believe him. He huffed, kicking at the snow again. “Okay, you win.”

“Well, speaking of Karen, how is she?” Ashton asked, changing the topic, and Kenny smiled happily.

“She’s doing good— Craig’s sister has been a big help in that.”

Ashton chuckled, nodding. “I bet. Ruby really likes hanging out with her, from what I’ve seen.” Kenny nodded in agreement, thinking of how excited the two girls always got whenever they had the chance to hang out.

“They’re nearly inseparable some days.” Kenny explained, laughing softly. “It’s cute seeing her have such a good friend.”

Ashton hummed, taking another long drink from his thermos. Kenny chuckled, raising an eyebrow at him. “That’s coffee, right? Don’t you think you should take your time drinking it?” He asked, and Ashton let out a small whine of disagreement that had color flooding Kenny’s cheek.

“I’m still on the verge of crashing, dude.” Ashton sighed, his breath coming out in a puff of steam from the cold air. “Cartman kept us up ‘til ass-all hours, and I-“ He paused, frowning for a moment. Kenny tilted his head to the side curiously, wondering what he had been going to say.

“You…?” He prompted and Ashton’s lips turned from a frown into a full on pout as he huffed.

“Nevermind. Let’s just end it with I have been staying up late at night for the past week and Cartman’s insistence to stay up until 3 in the morning was not a fun experience.”

Kenny chuckled, smirking beneath his parka as he elbowed Ashton lightly in his side. “What are you, an old man?”

Ashton rolled his eyes, smiling at Kenny. “A tired teenager.”

“Clearly.” Kenny hummed, reaching over and patting Ashton’s head kindly. Ashton scoffed, lightly batting his hand away. Kenny rolled his eyes, chuckling. “Oh, hold still. Your hair looks like a rat’s nest.”

“Wait, seriously?!” Ashton blushed darkly, reaching up and running his fingers through his hair, tugging at the knots.

Kenny smirked, looking away from Ashton and back at the bus stop that was quickly growing closer. “Nah, it’s fine. I was just messing with you.”

Ashton’s eyes widened and he turned towards him quickly. “Kenny!” He scolded, moving to punch his arm.

Kenny dodged it easily, laughing and breaking into a run. Ashton let out a frustrated growl and Kenny’s heart thumped wildly in his chest, a grin plastered to his face as Ashton started to chase him.

“Get back here, Kenny!” Ashton shouted, a playful lilt to his voice that let Kenny know he wasn’t actually mad. Kenny only laughed in response.

\----

“Ashton, you look like hell.” Stan said as Ashton joined them at lunch, and Kenny had to agree. The boy looked dead on his feet as he slumped into the seat next to Kenny. Almost immediately he rested his head on the table, groaning softly.

“I just want to sleep.” He nearly begged, and Kenny patted his shoulder gently in sympathy.

“You ran out of coffee, didn’t you?” The despairing whine that Ashton let out was answer enough.

“Why are you so tired, anyway, man?” Kyle asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Seriously?” Ashton asked, lifting his head just enough he could stare at Kyle with disapproving eyes. “We have that level of discretion?” He paused for a moment, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he forced himself to sit up. “Why don’t we just act like normal if we all know who everyone is?”

“It adds a certain flair.” Stan explained, and Kenny nearly rolled his eyes with him.

While Kenny preferred the discretion and hidden identity when they weren’t playing heroes, he did admit that after they stopped being kids, it lost its flair. Half the time, they didn’t even use them. The only reason they still had it was because Cartman threw one of his big fits if they didn’t.

“Cartman’s the reason, isn’t he?” Ashton asked dully. At the collective nod, Ashton let his head fall back onto the table hard enough to make Stan’s water bottle shake. Kenny patted his back again comfortingly.

“Where _is_ Cartman, anyway?” Kyle asked, looking around their table. Stan and Kenny shrugged, and Ashton sighed.

“He’s stuck with a teacher, I think… I don’t actually know what happened last class.”

“You’re that tired?” Kyle asked, raising an eyebrow. Ashton held up his index finger, sitting still for a few moments before he sat up.

“I’m tired enough that I’d kill someone for just 3 hours of naptime.”

“Not coffee?”

Ashton shook his head, pointing to Craig’s gang a few tables away. “Nah, if I wanted I could ask Tweek if he had some, or I could just use the lunch period to sign out and get some.”

“I think you should do that.” Kenny said softly, and Ashton shook his head.

“If I can’t get through this, I’m not gonna survive the week.” He paused, tapping his fingers on the table idly. “Besides, I’ve already drunk like, 5 cups. If I drink any more today I’ll have the worst headache in all of history tomorrow.”

“You and Tweek are such coffee addicts.” Kyle said with a roll of his eyes.

Kenny frowned, shaking his head. “Dude, Tweek’s parents have been making him test their disgusting meth-laced coffee daily for over a decade now. Add that to the fact he used to constantly drink coffee because his parents insisted it calmed him down, of course he’s going to be addicted.”

“Wait, their coffee has meth in it?” Ashton asked, frowning thoughtfully as Kenny nodded. “That explains why the first time I tried it I spit it out almost immediately.”

“Yeah, Tweek’s managed to get himself off the coffee his parents make and makes his own now.” Kenny explained, grinning.

Stan and Kyle exchanged confused glanced, looking back at Kenny a moment later.“How do you know so much about this?”

Kenny chuckled, leaning back in his seat. “Dude, I don’t just hang out with you guys- Craig and his gang are pretty cool.” Not to mention, he could safely talk with Craig and Tweek about guys without worry of bigoted remarks from someone like Cartman.

Ashton nodded in agreement, smiling. “It sucks you guys have that big rivalry thing going. You guys would probably like them a bit more if you got a chance to hang out with them.”

Stan and Kyle both let out non-comitial grunts, going back to their lunches, and Ashton chuckled one last time before resting his head on his arms. He looked at Kenny, smiling innocently up at him, and Kenny really hoped his blush wasn’t able to be seen past the lip of his parka because _oh my god_ , Ashton looked adorable like that, even if he had dark circles imprinted under his eyes from exhaustion.

“Wake me when lunch is over.”

Kenny nodded, giving Ashton a thumbs up. Ashton smiled, turning his head away from Kenny and burying it further into his arms. Kenny stomped down the urge to run his hand through Ashton’s hair when it spilled over his shoulder and onto his arms, looking incredibly soft and silky as Ashton slipped into sleep.

Kenny turned back to his food, wondering just what this afternoon would bring.


	7. A Superheroine Appears!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is fairly late compared to the others, and that it's about 1000 words shorter! This chapter did _not_ want to get written.

Kenny sighed as he finished the trek over the train tracks to his home, looking at the rundown building with a small sense of dread. He couldn’t hear any arguing, and while that _should_ be a good thing, it was always a sign something was wrong in the McCormick household.

He was glad Karen wouldn’t be back from school for another hour. That gave him time to either figure out what was wrong and fix or prep for it, or warn Karen to spend the night with Ruby or one of her other friends. Maybe Kyle would be kind enough to take her in for the night if it was bad- Karen and Ike got along pretty well.

Kenny bit his lip, taking in a deep breath of cold, crisp air, and started towards the door.

When he opened the door, he sighed slightly when he could hear muffled arguing coming from his parents room- that explained why it was quiet outside- they weren’t arguing in the open like they usually did. Kevin sat on the couch, frowning as he slumped into the cushions and watched TV. He looked over as Kenny closed the door, and he offered his younger brother a smile.

“Hey there, Kenny! How was school?”

Kenny shrugged, walking over and plopping down next to him. “The usual.”

“Nothin’ interestin’?”

Kenny shook his head. “I mean, Ashton was dead on his feet today, but that’s not really interesting.”

“Ashton….” Kevin muttered, obviously trying to remember who Kenny was talking about. Since Ashton was still new to the town and Kenny had yet to find time to really talk about him with his brother due to the hours Kevin worked- today was actually one of the few days Kevin had off. “Ashton…. He’s the new kid you were telling me about last week, right?”

Kenny nodded quickly, smiling brightly as he removed his hood. “Yep! The one who gets along with pretty much _everyone_ -”

“Except Cartman.” Kevin finished, rolling his eyes a bit. Kenny laughed, nodding.

“Except Cartman.” Kenny repeated, leaning back on the couch.

“Who _does_ like Cartman though?” Kevin asked, frowning slightly. “I can’t even really think of someone, but since he’s still alive and breathin’….”

“Kevin!” Kenny gasped, lightly hitting his brother on the arm. Kevin smiled deviously, and Kenny frowned. “Don’t joke about things like that! Cartman’s just an idiot.”

“Yeah, who’s gotten you killed on more than one occasion.” Kevin said with a frown, clearly not happy. “I’d like to see him deal with dyin’ over and over because of his friends.”

Kenny winced, his smile disappearing. He knew what Kevin meant, knew that he felt it was completely unfair to Kenny that his friends all ended up killing him and forgetting without so much as a care more than half the time, but it still sat sourly in his gut. Kenny wouldn’t wish this curse upon anyone- not even his mortal enemy. Besides, after so long, Kenny had grown used to death. It still hurt, physically, but Kenny had dulled to it all. It came, and it went. There was no longer fear as Kenny faced death, only resignation and a short hello.

And yes, it hurt each time it was one of his friends who killed him, but then he remembered the day where he had died in the hospital, how at least Stan and Kyle had been sad over his death, and it made it all a bit easier.

Kevin realized the look that had fallen onto Kenny’s face, and he immediately looked guilty. “Shoot, Ken, I’m sorry. I just—“

“No, I get it.” Kenny said honestly, smiling again. “If our places were swapped, I’d feel the exact same way.”

“Right,” Kevin said with a weak chuckle, “Anyway, tell me more about this Ashton kid.”

\----

Getting Classi’s prescription had _not_ been how Umbra had expected his afternoon to start off, but for once he wasn’t complaining because of boredom. In fact he was grateful the lady wasn’t overloading him with questions- he wasn’t sure he’d be able to consciously keep track of any important answers right now.

He looked at the slip of paper Classi had given him, rubbing the back of his neck. “Medicinal Fried Chicken.” He mumbled, staring up at the locked and loaded armored building. “Her medication is drugs?”

He wasn’t even sure how to get into the building he was staring at. If he got too close, _lasers_ shot at him, and the area was too well lit and in the open for him to be able to sneak in through the shadows. “What the heck am I supposed to do now?” He mumbled, fighting back a yawn as he studied the building.

“Need some help, newbie?” A familiar voice called out, and Umbra turned around to see a girl with long black hair leaning against the fence around the construction site. She was dressed in pink, purple, and white, all sorts of gadgets strapped to a belt on her waist. Wendy Testaburger. She pushed off the fence, striding over confidently.

“Who are you?” Umbra asked, placing a hand on his hip as she came over.

“Name’s Call Girl,” She hummed, leaning forward and tapping Umbra’s chest. “And you look like you could use some help.”

“Perhaps,” Umbra smirked, motioning to Medicinal Friend Chicken. “Can you get me in there?”

Call Girl turned, looking at the building and tapping her chin as she thought. “Easy-peasy,” She determined, nodding firmly as she turned back around to face Umbra. “But first, you need to tell me your name.”

Umbra chuckled, bowing low. “Please forgive my rudeness, I’m afraid missions used far too much of my energy last night, and I’m still thoroughly exhausted. My name is Umbra.”

“Ooo, a gentleman!” Call Girl gasped, laughing a moment later as she smiled at him. “How rare in South Park!”

Umbra laughed, nodding. “Yes, well, I believe that chivalry is something that must not fade away, don’t you agree?”

Call Girl nodded, grinning as she took two of the phones off her belt. “You’re very right.” She said with another laugh, “Now then, I’ll get those doors open for you in a jiffy.”

“Thanks a lot.” Umbra said happily, and to his surprise the lasers and metal shutters deactivated seconds after he spoke. He looked at the now open building in shock, looking at Call Girl a second later. She giggled, cocking her hip as she pocketed her phones and placed a hand on her hip.

“Cat got your tongue, cutie?” She asked, smirking at Umbra.

“That’s one way to put it.” He admitted, “You South Park heroes have got all kinds of surprises up your sleeves!”

Call Girl looked immensely pleased with herself, standing a little bit straighter. “I like to keep people on their toes.” She said confidently, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder, and Umbra found Call Girl was just as confident and sure of herself as Wendy. “By the way, newbie,” She continued, her confident, cocky posture slipping back into casual as she stepped in front of him, “You need to be careful. Whatever you did last night at the Italian restaurant got a _lot_ of people’s attention. _Bad_ people. There’s a new crime boss that’s been calling the shots here in South Park and your stunt last night painted a target on your back. Whatever you did scared him.”

Umbra frowned as he listened to Call Girl, a ball of nervousness starting to form in his gut. That wasn’t good. Granted, he had a feeling it wasn’t good the moment Classi got involved- when someone you want information from immediately starts talking about crime syndicates and guns are pointed at teenagers that are just messing around, you need to realize that something isn’t right.

“I’m tracking everyone’s Instagrams and Facebooks and will continue to cross-reference with Tumblr while monitoring Twitter and LinkedIn. If you ever need information-“ She paused, motioning to the building they were still in front of. “- or need to get into a high security area, you can always rely on me.” She finished, smiling at Umbra. “I have to go now, sorry I can’t stay and help more!” She started jogging away from the Medicinal Fried Chicken building, waving. “Watch your back, handsome!”

“Thanks for the help!” Umbra called. He sighed as he turned back to the drug store, frowning at the door. “Well, I guess I better get this done and over with.” He said to himself, heading for the door.

“Hey, Douchebag!”

Umbra froze, groaning in frustration at the sound of Cartman’s voice. “Yes, Coon?”

“I’ll be joining you on your mission to assure Classi’s cooperation.” Coon said, walking over to the door as well. “Please, after you.”

 _At least he’s polite about it_ , Umbra thought with a roll of his eyes as he walked into the store. Cartman immediately walked towards the back, where an employee was waiting. Ashton frowned, looking around the store warily. It

“Uh, hello. We’re picking up some medicine for a friend.”

“Oh, is your friend looking for an energizing mental feeling or more of a full-body high?” The employee drawled as Umbra came over.

“Uh, she gave us a prescription…?” Umbra explained, starting to show him the paper Classi had given him when the employee held up a hand to stop him.

“I’ll send over our expert Budtender to help you out.”

Before Umbra or Coon could respond, the employee went into the back of the shop.

Nothing could have prepared Umbra for what came out of the back room.


	8. Chapter 8: The Process of Mending Broken Hearts

Umbra stepped back from the counter, jaw dropping as a walking, talking, living, and breathing _towel_ appeared from the back room of the store.

“Hey! You wanna get high? Oh, hey Eric.” The _towel-a freaking TOWEL-_ said calmly, and Umbra whipped his head to see Coon had barely bat an eye.

“Oh wow, Towlie! I thought you went to rehab.” Coon gasped, and all Umbra could do was stare. Cartman knew the towel on a personal level?

What _is_ this town?!

“You okay there, Butthole?”

“Don’t call me that…” Umbra remarked on instinct, unable to wrap his head around what he was seeing. “Y…. You’re a towel.”

“Yeah, I’m a towel. What, you’ve never seen a talking towel before?” Towlie asked, the tiniest bit snappy, and Umbra quickly shook his head.

“No! No, I _haven’t_ seen a talking towel before!” He exclaimed, running a hand down his face in frustration. He huffed angrily, holding up a hand to stop Towlie and Coon from saying anything. “Anyway, can-- can we please just pick up our friend’s prescription?”

“Who’s your friend?” Towlie asked, and Cartman took over from there.

“Her name is Classi.”

“Oh, Classy!” Towlie exclaimed, thinking through his customers in his head. “Classy with a Y with a clit hanging off it coming around and licking the shit out of the C?”

Umbra winced. He did not need to know this much about people’s taste in their tattoos, much less hear about what certain body parts were on the tattoo and doing to the other letters.

“No no no no, it’s, uh, Classi with a dick hanging off the I that’s fucking the L out of the A-S-S.” Coon explained quickly. Towlie let out a short exclamation of recognition, nodding as he turned around to grab her prescription.

“Ohh, that Classi. Sure, I got her order…. Let’s see…” He turned back around with a small bag of cannabis, shifting through it to make sure everything was there. “She likes the Banana Kush for her back pain and some of the Premium OG to- wait, what the fuck? WHO PUT THE CHILLAX KUSH IN WITH THE OG MELLOWBLISS?! WHAT THE FUCK, YOU RETARDS!”

Umbra cringed, looking away nervously. Man, what he wouldn’t give in order to already be on the opposite side of town right about now. It was weird enough being in the presence of a sentient towel that apparently had a drug problem while Umbra was ready to collapse on his feet from exhaustion, but now the towel was _yelling_? He didn’t want to get in the middle of this.

“Hey, hey Towlie, it’s cool, relax…” Coon placated, but it only made Towlie even angrier.

“No, it’s NOT FUCKING COOL! I’m trying to run a legitimate business here, and my back hurts, I can’t sleep, I’ve got no appetite, this shitty town in so fucked up we gotta buy all our product from FUCKING _SIXTH GRADERS_ ! AND WHO KNOWS _WHAT_ THE SHIT THEY PUT IN IT! And then to top it off I got a couple little dick-lickers coming into _my_ store telling me to fucking relax!” Umbra jumped as Towlie started slamming his fists down onto the table, taking a step back. “Fuck you! You relax! You’re a towel!”

Umbra jumped back as Towlie leapt over the counter, calling for employees to come out from the back. “Dude, I really think you might need to breathe for a second.” He said, holding up his hands in a placating manner. “We don’t have to fight!”

“Budtenders get in here! It’s time to give these kids a fucking consolation!”

“Shoot…” Umbra murmured, debating just grabbing Classi’s prescription, Coon, and shadow-traveling the hell out of there. He looked around, trying to find a proper shadow to use without needing to stretch one up from the ground.

He yelped as Towlie lunged for him with a knife, spinning around on his heel to get out of the way and nearly running into one of the employees.

“Shit! Coon, what do we do?!” He asked, ducking the employee’s punch and grabbing his arm. He flipped the employee over as Towlie attacked Coon with a lighter and aerosol can. Coon yelped as his clothes got burned, dropping down to ground and rolling over to put it out. He rolled over one of the piles of cannabis, and Umbra’s nose scrunched as the smell of the drug started smoking into the air. “Gross, it smells like pot!” He hissed, quickly getting out of the way as Towlie created a stream of fire in his direction and ended up burning another pile.

Thick, heavy black smoke started to fill the air and it made Umbra’s eyes water, blurring his vision slightly. He reached into his jacket sleeve and pulled out the shadows hidden there, wrapping them around his mouth and nose like a bandana to keep the smell of pot out.

“That’s it!” Coon panted as he stood back up and punched the nearest employee. “We need to get Towlie high again!”

“Are you serious?!” Umbra nearly shouted, punching the employee still trying to get him. The employee stumbled back, putting a hand to his jaw. Umbra winced as he heard a click when he was stretching it. “Won’t we get high, too?!”

“Not if we act fast enough!” Coon shouted as he went over to the next pile. He taunted Towlie, making the towel turn to him and direct another stream of fire in his direction. Coon got out of the way just in time, and a third pile went up in smoke. Towlie breathed in deeply, a laugh bubbling up his throat.

“Oh man, hah hah, I was hoping you’d burn that one, too. Make it a real party atmosphere in here.”

“L-Light up that last pile, Buttlord!” Coon shouted, and Umbra nodded, catching Towlie’s attention. Towlie’s employee yelped as he caught on fire, dropping to the ground and starting to roll around. He rolled onto the final pile, and the entire top half of the store turned a dark black.

“Now for my best attack! My _best_ attack…!” Towlie started, taking another deep breath, “My… Hey, guys.” Towelie said, dropping the lighter and aerosol can. “Hey, how you been, Eric? Ah, you’re such a cool guy, man… I’m psyched to see you, man…”

“Oh thank god, he’s high. Can we air the place out now?!” Umbra asked, and Towlie waved him off while grabbing Classi’s prescription.

“Ay, this is for Classi…” Towlie said as he walked back over, handing a container to Coon. “I threw in a couple hush nuggets and some Grand Daddy Purple Shatter on the house… come by any time for a hook up.”

“Awesome, great, will do. Bye now!” Umbra waved, grabbing Coon’s arm and pulling him out of the store. He inhaled the fresh air almost greedily, removing the shadows from around his mouth and nose. “I’m not going in there ever again, just F.Y.I.”

“Whatever.” Coon shrugged, handing the prescription to Umbra. “Good work, New Kid. Now get that over to Classi.”

“Yeah, sure.” Umbra waved, heading down the street a moment later. He knew getting information was important, but while he was on this street, he figured he’d stop by Tweek Bros. Coffee. Craig had said he needed his help with something, and helping him was far better than going back to Jimmy’s house and seeing Classi get high. He’d had enough of that for the next few hours.

\----

“So, what’s up, Craig?” Umbra asked as he went up to the teen in question. Craig glowered at him, an expression Umbra knew only came from him when Tweek was involved.

“Alright, listen. I have this ex-friend who I hate now and he still has my goddamn laptop. Go get it from him and tell him that if he doesn’t give it back, I’m calling the fucking cops.” Craig explained, and Umbra sighed softly, pinching the bridge of his nose. Okay, so he was apparently going to be playing mediator.

“Craig,” Umbra said softly, “Listen, you should really just talk with Tweek about this stuff. If you talk, you can work through this.”

“Fuck that! I’m not talking to that traitor! Just give this to him already and get my fucking laptop back from that prick.” Craig shoved a note into Umbra’s hand, big red letters hastily scrawled on top of it.

Umbra sighed heavily, shaking his head as he straightened the note from its crumpled state. “Alright, alright. If that’s how you want to do this.”

“it is!”

Umbra nodded once again before walking into Tweek Bros. Coffeehouse, looking around. It smelled wonderfully of coffee, although the unpleasant scent of meth pricked at his nose as Mrs. Tweak brewed another cup of coffee for a customer.

“Hello! Welcome to Tweek coffee. What can I interest you in today?” Mr. Tweak said cheerfully, and Umbra smiled politely.

“Hello. I’m looking for your son, Tweek?”

“Oh, of course! He’s in the back, sampling some flavor ideas for the store.”

“Thank you, sir.” Umbra bowed his head slightly before heading for the back door, walking in. Tweek sat on the floor, a notepad and try full of espresso cups in front of him. He sipped at one of the espresso shots, twitching soon after. “Tweek?”

“Gah!” Tweek jumped, whipping his head to look at Umbra with wide eyes. “Hey, you’re not supposed to be back here!”

“Your father let me back here.” Umbra explained, sitting down in front of Tweek. “Can we talk?”

Tweek frowned, shoulder twitching slightly out of nervousness. Before he could respond, Tweek’s father peeked his head in. “How are those taste tests coming, son?”

“I can’t even taste a difference anymore!” Tweek suddenly shouted as he looked at his dad.

“Well, keep sampling, we need to come up with the perfect Sunset Blend!” Mr. Tweak left, then, and Umbra frowned, taking the cup Tweek was holding from him and setting nit on the tray before moving it off to the side.

“Okay, that’s enough Tweak Bros coffee for now.” Umbra said softly, and Tweek crossed his arms over his chest while slumping against the boxes behind him.

“What do you want?” Tweek asked, looking away.

“Well, for starters, if I could get you and Craig to talk again, that’d be nice.” Umbra chuckled weakly as Tweek’s expression turned dark, and he slumped even further down.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

Umbra sighed, shaking his head. “Clearly, there is.” Umbra bit his lip as Tweek continued to look away, worrying at it for a second before taking off his mask with a sigh. “Okay, seriously. No hero personas right now, just Ashton and Tweek having a conversation.” He moved to sit next to Tweek instead of across from him, stretching his legs out in front of him. “What’s up with you two?”

“’What’s up’ is that Craig is a lying, backstabbing jerk-face that only caRES ABOUT HIMSELF!” Tweek snapped, voice rising to a shout at the end. Umbra frowned.

“Now you know that’s not true.” He said softly, voice stern as he leaned over and looked Tweek in the eyes. “Craig has and always will care about you more than anyone.”

“He sure as hell didn’t yesterday.” Tweek said bitterly, sulking like a little kid as he slid his back down the boxes until his was almost completely on the floor. Ashton smiled sadly, nodding in agreement.

“Yeah,” He agreed quietly. “He certainly didn’t.”

They were quiet for a few minutes as Ashton thought over his next words, the only sound being the noise from outside and Tweek’s occasional twitches and grunts.

“I think…” Ashton began softly, “I think both of you are hurt by whatever happened. Which means bad choices are made. Craig still cares about you, Tweek. Just like you care about him.”

“What do _you_ know?! You’ve only been in this town for a month!” Tweek snapped, sitting back up again. Ashton jumped from the suddenness of his movements, but didn’t say anything. Tweek looked down and away from him. “I’m sorry.”

Ashton chuckled, waving his concern off. “Ah, don’t be. Lover’s quarrels are in no way my forte, and you’re right, I _have_ only been here for a month. So if I end up offending, I probably deserve to get yelled at.”

Tweek spluttered, face turning bright red. “T-This isn’t a lover’s quarrel!”

Ashton rolled his eyes, laughing again. “Sure it’s not.”

“It’s not!” Tweek defended, and Ashton let out a disbelieving, playful hum. “We broke up! It’s not a lover’s quarrel!”

“Okay, okay,” Ashton said, tone disbelieving as he held up his hands, placating. “It’s not a lover’s quarrel, whatever you say.”

“Thank you.”

They were quiet again, Ashton trying not to think of how he’d end up making Tweek think he was choosing sides when he finally showed him the note Craig wanted him to give Tweek. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, by saying the one thing he knew would get a light-hearted reaction from Tweek.

“It’s _totally_ a lover’s quarrel.”

“Ashton!”


	9. Good or Bad? Who Knows?

“So did you get my laptop?”

Craig’s usual drone caught Mysterion’s attention from the current lead he was investigating, pulling his gaze towards Tweek Bros. Coffee. Umbra was just walking out of the shop, a small frown on his face and an unmarked, paper cup in his hand. He must have gotten some coffee from Tweek before leaving. “Well….” He began slowly, pointedly not looking at Craig. “He wants Stripe back, first.”

Mysterion frowned, watching the interaction. Just what was Umbra doing?

Craig frowned, glaring at the ground like it might solve all his problems. He was quiet for a few moments, and Mysterion’s eyes widened at the vehemence in his voice as he started speaking once again. “Ugh, _fine_! You know where Stripe’s cage is! Go get him and give him to that fucking asshole!”

Umbra looked unimpressed by the order, shoving his free hand into his pocket and taking a drink from the coffee in his hand. He paused for a moment, licking his lips as he seemed to think over how to answer. Mysterion felt his stomach flip at the action, causing him to frown in confusion. He shook his head to clear it from unnecessary thoughts, focusing back on the conversation.

“Okay.” Umbra stated simply, lifting the hand with his coffee again, pointing up at the air. “ _But_ , I’ll only get him for you if you agree to _talk to Tweek_.”

 _Oh_ , Mysterion realized, a small, thankful smile making its way onto his face without him realizing it. _He’s trying to help them work out this argument_.

“Fuck that!” Craig snapped defensively, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away again. “I don’t even care about this anymore! He can _have_ the goddamn guinea pig if it means I get my laptop.”

Umbra frowned. “You don’t mean that.” He said softly, so softly that Mysterion had to creep a little closer in order to hear it, causing him to press against the shaded side of the coffee shop in order to stay hidden. “I know you don’t.”

“What the fuck do you know?!” Craig snapped, causing Umbra to wince and hold up his hands in surrender.

“Listen, you—“

“I don’t _care_ about Tweek, damn it! _He_ walked out on _me!_ “

Mysterion winced, shocked by the bite to Craig’s words. Umbra froze, whatever he had been saying before Craig spoke over him dying on his tongue. Slowly, the boy took a deep breath, lowering his hands again as anger started clouding his features.

“Okay. Okay, I know I said I wasn’t going to pick sides but this has gone on long enough and I’m not in the mood to deal with your whiny teenage angst _bullshit_.” Umbra spat, voice furious as he jabbed a finger at Craig’s chest. “What the _fuck_ is your problem, dude?!”

Craig jerked back, clearly startled, and Mysterion took a step back as well. Umbra’s anger was frightening.

Umbra didn’t give him time to respond, continuing his rant. “You are so goddamn lucky that Tweek didn’t hear that. He’s _heartbroken_ that you’re being such a jerk.”

“I keep _telling_ you I don’t—“

“ _Listen_ , you are so fucking transparent when it comes to Tweek, so don’t keep lying to yourself over this!” Umbra scolded with a scoff, “I don’t know what happened, I don’t know if this is all because of this game- which it _better not be_ \- and I don’t _want_ to know. That’s _your_ business. But you and Tweek are both hurting over this and if you don’t talk, nothing will get better! So either you guys work things out yourselves or I swear to god, I’ll make you guys go to couples counseling with Mr. Mackey.”

The silence that followed the end of his threat was so strong, Mysterion could hear kids playing five streets over.

Time seemed to stretch on, the world freezing around the three boys while the world passed without a glance.

“…Fine.” Craig grumbled, shoulders slumping as he moved to lean against the coffee shop. “Fine, I’ll talk to Tweek.”

Mysterion relaxed, sighing in relief. Maybe now Craig and Tweek could fix whatever was going on between them.

“Good.” Umbra sighed. “I’ll get Stripe, and _you’ll_ be the one who gives him to Tweek, you hear me? Then you better talk to him or I swear-“

Craig held up his hands quickly, shaking his head. “Whoa, whoa, I get it! I get it!” The two boys fell silent again, and Mysterion figured the conversation was over. He sighed softly, looking for a good foot hold on the building next to him to climb up with.

“…Do you think he’ll forgive me?”

This time, it was Craig sounding completely and utterly _broken_ that had Mysterion pausing. He peeked around the corner again and watched as Umbra’s surprised expression morphed back into a small, reassuring smile as he placed a hand on Craig’s shoulder.

He took a deep breath, making Craig visibly tense. “Yeah,” Umbra said simply. “I think he will.” Umbra’s small smile turned into a wide grin as he patted Craig’s shoulder a few times. “Now then, I’ve got a guinea pig to grab.”

Mysterion’s eyes widened as Umbra started coming in his direction, and he quickly ran to the foothold and pulled himself up onto the roof of the theatre. He quickly hid beneath the small ledge of the roof as Umbra passed, hoping he hadn’t been seen. His heart was racing, which made him feel a bit like a fool. What was the point in hiding? Umbra and Craig were getting pretty loud- he could have just acted like he had overheard them and thanked Umbra for helping instead of running and hiding.

He sighed, letting his head hit the concrete wall behind him. Well, whatever. It was time to get back to the mission.

\---

“I’m serious guys, maybe this Umbra isn’t that bad.” Toolshed explained, staring at his phone as it rested innocently on the table in front of him. Mysterion frowned, shrugging and staring at Toolshed’s phone as well.

The Freedom Pals, minus Wonder Tweek while he was trapped at his parent’s shop, were debating if they should contact Coon and Friends. Toolshed needed to thank Umbra for helping keep his dad out of trouble, insiting he owed him a favor, and they also needed to get Timmy’s phone back before his parents realized he no longer had it. The only problem was, they couldn’t decide if they could trust Umbra enough to actually go through with it while heroes.

“He’s joined Coon and Friends.” Tupperware said after a moment, leaning against the wall nearby. “I mean, that means something, doesn’t it? He just immediately joined them without even _seeing_ our ideals.” He looked to Mysterion and Professor Timmothy, “Mysterion? Professor? What do you think?”

Mysterion looked over to Professor Timmothy, who was sitting at the other end of the table and thinking hard over their situation.

“ _I’ve never been able to get a read on the boy._ ” Professor explained, “ _However he seemed like he’d rather be anywhere but under Coon’s thumb_.”

Mysterion stepped in then, crossing his arms over his chest and his legs beneath the table. “His allegiance to Coon is shaky, at best. Coon refuses to call him by his proper name, and Umbra’s temper rises almost rapidly when Coon is involved.” He paused for a moment, thinking over his next words. “Last night, when he and Captain Diabetes were at the Italian restaurant and I ended up getting caught in the mess, he didn’t turn me in to Coon and the others.”

“So he’s fine, right?” Tupperware asked, and Mysterion’s frown deepened as he let out a frustrated huff.

“He’s a smug, cocky little bastard.” He growled, and Toolshed snorted.

“You sound a little like you admire him, Mysterion.” He teased, making Mysterion tense.

“I do not!” He spat, sitting up straight and glaring at Toolshed, who raised his hands in surrender.

“But do you think we could trust him?” Tupperware asked, rolling his eyes as Mysterion sunk back down in his seat.

“I don’t know.” Mysterion huffed, glaring at the table. He did not _admire_ Umbra. He wanted to punch that smug look off his face each time he saw him. “He takes being a superhero seriously, he’s friendly, but it doesn’t seem like he enjoys taking sides. He might give away information to the other Coon Friends if we were to trust him.”

They were quiet for a while, each thinking it over, when Toolshed sighed and snatched his phone off the table. “Screw this, I’m calling. I need to thank him and want to do it before the day is up. How about we make this a test? We’ll find out if he’s trustworthy that way.”

Mysterion sighed heavily, shrugging. “Go right ahead- but be careful, his temper is incredibly short today thanks to Coon’s shenanigans last night.”

\----

Mysterion watched as Coon and Friends walked into the park one by one, frowning when he didn’t see Umbra among the small group. The one person they needed, and he wasn’t there.

He sighed softly, watching the usual park entrance from beside the bathrooms. Not the best hiding spot, but it hid him from view and gave him clear visual over the entrance.

Maybe Umbra wasn’t going to show- he _had_ seemed pretty tired when Mysterion last saw him. Did that trick he pull the night before really use that much energy?

Mysterion lost himself to his thoughts, nearly jumping when a hand landed on his shoulder. He looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened when he saw Umbra standing behind him, smiling sheepishly and holding a finger to his lips.

“What are you _doing_?” Mysterion asked gruffly, being sure to keep his voice quiet enough the others couldn’t hear. Umbra laughed nervously before covering his mouth as he yawned.

“I used that travel technique I used last night, and didn’t realize you were here until I almost ran into you. Sorry, I’m still kind of reeling from exhaustion right now. I’ve been going every which way all day.” He paused a moment, thinking over something before shaking his head. Mysterion couldn’t help but feel that the boy in front of him was incredibly unfocused as he swayed on his feet. “Anyway, I should get going before Coon pops a blood vessel waiting any longer.”

He waved, heading towards the other Coon Friends waiting, and Mysterion had to question whether or not he would be okay.

“You sure one of the Freedom Pals wants to meet with us?” Coon asked, and Jimmy nodded.

“Yeah, his text said it was very urgent.”

“Yeah, but why would the Freedom Pals want to talk to _us_?”

“Unless….” Human Kite began. Mysterion could practically see the wheels turning in his head. “This is some kind of trap.”

Toolshed came out from behind a tree then, telling the Coon Friends to relax. He explained that he just wanted to thank Umbra for helping last night with his dad, to which Umbra just shrugged.

“Dude, you don’t need to thank me.” Umbra said, yawning again after he spoke. “It was Captain Diabetes who did most of the work, anyhow. I just happened to be there.”

“Still, I owe you a favor.”

Umbra shrugged, clearly not wanting to fight it or particularly caring. He was probably too tired to care.

Coon laughed, stepping forward and beginning to put words in Umbra’s mouth. “You think the New Kid fucking cares about you? You belong to a loser, zero-income franchise that’s run by a douchebag in a wheelchair!”

“Hey! I don’t like words being put in my mouth, Coon!” Umbra snapped, quite possibly glaring at him.

“ _At least he’s not a fat little phone stealer_.” Professor said, and Mysterion made his way over to the others as Professor Timmothy and Tupperware stood behind the Coon Friends.

“You call _us_ losers when the only way you can get a lead is to _steal_ it? Where is Doctor Timmothy’s cell phone?!” Mysterion asked. Umbra looked like he’d rather be anywhere else right now, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. It made his spirits drop almost completely. If this ended in a fight, it wouldn’t be fun if Umbra barely tried.

“Sorry, Freedom Pussies. That info is classified.”

“You guys need to stop investigating the Chamber of Commerce, and _leave it_ to the professional heroes!” Mysterion snapped, and Umbra’s lips twitched into a smile for a second.

“Oh yeah, _you_ guys are the professional superheroes.” Coon taunted. “It just so happens, Mysterion, that _we_ already have a connection with Netflix!”

Tupperware nearly sighed, “No you don’t.” He said matter-of-fact, tone almost completely done with Coon.

“Yes, we do.” As Coon continued to bluff about having a connection with Netflix, Mysterion looked back over to Umbra as he yawned again, catching his eye. Mysterion glanced quickly at Coon, silently asking if he was serious, and Umbra just tiredly smirked and rolled his eyes.

Timmy moved his wheelchair forward, placing fingers to his head as he started reading Coon’s mind. “They don’t have a connection at Netflix.” Timmy determined, smiling innocently.

“Freedom Pals just raped my mind you guys! Let’s get these pedophiles!”

“I don’t think you know what that word means, Coon.” Umbra mumbled, yawning again.

“I’ll take Umbra.” Mysterion said to the others, who nodded.

“Freedom Pals, unite!”

“Civil war two is going down!”


	10. A little gift!

As an apology for falling a tiny bit behind and in consequence, making shorter chapters (though admittedly not by much), I have decided to give you a preview of something that will appear in a later chapter!

[](https://imgbb.com/)   
  


You'll hopefully be getting many more images paired with the story in the future, so be prepared!

This may count as today's/ tomorrow's (Dec. 4th) chapter because I want to try and get a little ahead in chapters again instead of spend the entire day writing the chapter for that day so I can post in the mornings, but we'll see how I feel in the morning. If what I think will happen is what happens, this will just be a nice little between chapters treat (not that it isn't already ^^)

 

Can _you_ guess what's happening in this photo?


	11. Sweetheart, Sweetheart

The last thing Umbra wanted to do right now was have to fight, but he supposed he was awake enough to do that one last thing before absolutely just _crashing_. He hated not being able to put his all in the fight, though. He wanted to fight Mysterion fair and square, not when he was on the verge of collapsing because of exhaustion.

He created small threads of shadows around his fingers again, sneaking them into Mysterion’s shadow as the other hero came up to him.

“You look like absolute hell.” Mysterion stated, quite literally just standing in front of Umbra.

Umbra rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks for the compliment.” He said dryly. “Listen, I have enough energy to last one fight, so come at me with all you’ve got.”

Mysterion frowned, looking unsure for a moment. “That doesn’t feel fair.” He explained. Umbra huffed, subtly grabbing the strings of shadows he attached to Mysterion’s shadow and ankles, and _pulled_.

He smirked as Mysterion’s feet were pulled out from under him by his own shadow, a yelp leaving the hooded hero as his back collided with the ground. Umbra leaned over him, feeling incredibly please as he looked down at him. “Believe me, sweetheart, I’ll be fine.” He chuckled.

Mysterion’s eyes widened in shock, and Umbra guessed he must have short-circuited something in his brain because he laid there sprawled out on the ground for a second longer before he grabbed at Umbra’s heel. Umbra danced out of the way, laughing happily.

Umbra and Mysterion circled a small portion of the black top, throwing punches here and there. Umbra continued to tug and pull Mysterion’s shadow around, making him trip and stumble. Mysterion let out a frustrated growl after a few minutes, leaping at Umbra.

Umbra yelped as he went crashing to the ground, blushing darkly as he looked up at Mysterion. Mysterion smirked, eyes twinkling with smugness and pride as Umbra tried to push him off to no avail. For someone so thin, Mysterion was strong.

[ ](https://ibb.co/jJLpaG)

“Ha! Now _you’re_ the one on the ground, _sweetheart_.” Mysterion taunted, and Umbra let out a nervous laugh, his heart beating far too rapidly for his liking.

The blond hero was so _close_ , holy hell.

….

Wow, Mysterion has really pretty blue eyes.

 _Wait, not the time_ , Umbra reminded himself, mentally shaking his head.

Umbra smirked up at the blond, chuckling. “You still have to knock me out, Mysterion.” He purred, and Mysterion smirked, motioning over to the others.

“Actually, I’d say this is game set and match.”

Umbra looked over, eyes widening when he saw that Coon, Human Kite, and Fastpass were all knocked out. “How the--?!”

“Now then, we have two options here; either you give up, or I knock you out like you did to me yesterday.” Mysterion said confidently, smirking as he sat back on Umbra’s legs, keeping his hands pinned near his head.

Umbra growled in frustration, trying to push Mysterion off again and barely getting his back off the ground when Mysterion pinned him back down. He grunted and panted, laughing as he tried a third and final time to get Mysterion off him.. “Okay, well, I don’t feel like spending the next ten hours or so in the park, so I’m afraid I must surrender.”

“Good.” Mysterion smirked.

Umbra rolled his eyes, another laugh building up in his throat as embarrassment and nervousness as he tried to get his heart out of his throat and back down in his chest. “As much as I love being pinned down, I’d much rather get to know you, first.” He purred, “Now will you get off me?”

Wonderfully, Mysterion frowned in confusion for a second before realizing he was still pining Umbra down. He leapt to his feet, clearly flustered as he proceeded to help Umbra to his feet.

“Umbra,” Toolshed said, drawing Umbra’s attention. He looked over at the other Freedom Pals as Toolshed continued, “You’re in the wrong franchise. Come join the Freedmon Pals.”

Umbra was quiet for a while, thinking about his offer. He _did_ want to join them, if only just to get away from Coon, but he still needed to find out and be sure that the Supernatural in South Park wasn’t in Coon and Friends.

Eventually, he sighed, shaking his head a little bit. “Sorry, loves.” Umbra said with a small chuckle, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I’ve got my own mission, and it requires that I stay on Coon and Friends a little longer.” He sighed, smiling tiredly at the Freedom Pals. “Now, if that’s all, I’m going to wake up Human Kite and Fastpass then head home for a much needed nap.”

“ _Our doors are always open for you, Umbra._ ” Professor Timmothy relayed, and Umbra hoped he hadn’t actually visibly tensed up as much as he felt he had, because he didn’t want to seem rude as Timmy actually spoke to him through his mind but it was still shocking each time he did it.

“I’ll be sure to remember that.” Umbra promised, and with those words, the Freedom Pals left.

Umbra stifled a yawn, feeling his jaw pop. He walked over to Fastpass and lightly shook his shoulder until he woke up, smiling at him. He explained how they lost the battle and the Freedom Pals left while helping Fastpass to his feet, then repeated the action with Human Kite.

“One of you can deal with Coon. I’m going to sleep.” Umbra waved goodbye, leaving the park and jogging home.

“I’m home!” Ashton shouted as he entered his house and removed his mask. He didn’t get a response, but that was usual, so he put his mask in his pocket and headed for the kitchen. He got himself some water before heading upstairs to his room and collapsing face first into his pillow. He was ready to map for ten _years_ at this point.

He took off his jacket without lifting his head from his pillow and tossed it towards his desk, wincing as it landed on a bad part of the desk and crinkled some papers. Oh well.

He sighed, burying his face further into his pillow. In seconds, he was asleep.

\---

Mysterion frowned thoughtfully at the city map they had laid out on the table, marking each lead or dead end they had come across. “Okay, so we know that someone has been paying sixth graders and the crime families to capture and deliver cats from here, to here.” He said, placing his fingers on the Buca de Faggochinni and the police station.

Toolshed stepped forward, studying the map. “We’ve also learned that _something_ is going on at the U-Stor-It.” He looked at Mysterion, frowning. “Chances are, the cats that weren’t found this morning at the restaurant are there. But are we sure we should go there tonight?”

“What’s up, guys?”

Mysterion looked at the stairwell, giving a small nod to Wonder Tweek. “We’re trying to figure out our next move.” He paused, taking in the smile on Tweek’s face and how he seemed far less twitchy than he had the past couple of weeks. “Something happen?”

“Yep!”

Tupperware chuckled from his place by his super suit, busy working on the latest upgrades. “You gonna tell us just what happened?” He asked, and Wonder Tweek nodded quickly.

“Craig and I got back together!” He blurted excitedly, and Toolshed grinned while Tupperware and Mysterion gave their congratulations.

“That’s great, Tweek! So you finally managed to talk it out?” Toolshed asked, and Wonder Tweek nodded so quickly Mysterion worried he might snap his neck.

“I’m glad you two are happy again.” Mysterion said softly, genuinely happy for Wonder Tweek and Super Craig. He may not like Coon and Friends, but Wonder Tweek had been so disheartened and extra jumpy lately because of whatever was going on between him and Super Craig, which none of them liked.

Mysterion smiled to himself. He’d have to thank Umbra for helping them out, later.

“So what’s the next move?” Wonder Tweek asked, walking over and looking at the map curiously.

“Well, we’re debating when we should go to the U-Stor-It and follow that lead. I think the sooner we go, the better chance of surprise we have, but….”

“But it might be too dangerous for only us five.” Toolshed finished, frowning at the map. “Someone put lava in front of the entire entrance, and while that can be easily solved thanks to my ability, it doesn’t explain _why_ someone felt it necessary to do that.”

“It’s just to keep us out and the cats in, right?” Wonder Tweek asked.

Mysterion shrugged, walking away from the map. He suddenly felt like he was filled with nervous energy, and he needed to do something other than just stand there. “Maybe,” He agreed, “But these are adults we’re talking about. Why would they think a large expanse of red Legos would keep _other_ adults out? They aren’t playing a game like we are.”

“Wait a sec- Butters seemed a bit off today at school.” Tupperware said, turning to face the group. “He was chuckling to himself and making plans in his notebook almost all day.”

Mysterion’s eyes widened. “That might mean-“

“What if the one keeping us out of the U-Stor-It _isn’t_ an adult?” Wonder Tweek finished, a short gasp escaping him a second later. He nearly leapt at the map, studying it with a ferocity that even his twitches couldn’t break. “Professor Chaos moved his lair recently! It used to be here-“ Tweek pointed to a spot on the map, then, and Mysterion made his way back over. “And I’ve been following his movements the past few weeks- if he were to keep going this way-“

“It stops at the U-Stor-It!” Mysterion finished, eyes growing wide. “Someone’s been paying Professor Chaos to keep people out of there!”

“If he’s being paid to keep people out, chances are that means his defenses are _high_.” Tupperware explained, walking over and looking at the others. “We don’t know enough to go charging in. We need to wait, gather more information.”

Mysterion fought the urge to bit his lip, instead balling his hands into fists. “You’re right. There’s not enough information.” He paused for a moment, checking the clock in the corner of the room. “We should spend these last few hours of daylight gathering information. Wonder Tweek, can you keep tracking Professor Chaos’s movements?”

“Sure can.” Wonder Tweek said proudly. “I’ve still got some tricks up my sleeve!”

Mysterion did let a small smile break through this time. “Great. Go do that.” He turned to Tupperware. “Tupperware, are your upgrades finished yet?”

“Not quite. The Mach 5 still has some kinks I need to work out.”

Mysterion nodded. “Fix the kinks the best you can. We’ll need the fire power as soon as possible. Toolshed-“

“I’ll do my best to keep Coon and Friends away from the U-Stor-It.” Toolshed said with a grin. “Did Umbra ever end up telling them that information?”

“Fastpass was there with him when it was given. He probably told them since Umbra went straight home after waking up Fastpass and Kite. Whether they’ll make a move while their best hero is out of commission all night, I can’t say. I’ll stay here and make sure no one tries to break in while Doctor Timmothy works.”

“ _No,_ _Mysterion. You keep an eye on Umbra. If Coon tries to bully him into going to the U-Stor-It,_ none _of us stand a chance. We need to keep all of them away for as long as possible_.” Professor Timmothy explained, coming out from behind the curtains hiding his workspace. Mysterion frowned.

“Is that really necessary, though? Umbra’s sleeping like the dead.”

“ _It’s better to be safe than sorry. I’ll be fine. Besides, Tupperware isn’t leaving the base, either.”_

“But-“

“ _Mysterion._ ”

Mysterion frowned, huffing slightly and looking away. “Alright, if you think you’ll be fine without someone here to guard you, then I’ll go.”

“ _Good. Now go, Freedom Pals! Get out there and do what you do best!”_


	12. Craig's Gang Is Low Key Squad Goals

Kenny was going to punch Coon in the face.

Well, okay, he wasn’t _really_ going to end up going through with that, but the desire was still there.

He had gone to Umbra’s home to keep an eye on him like Professor Timmothy had wanted, and Coon had tried to call Umbra and get him out of bed nearly fifty times.

Thankfully, Kenny’s previous assessment to the lengths of Umbra’s exhaustion turned out to be true, and he slept through them all, but Umbra’s mother had at one point walked into his room in the middle of one of the calls, went out of the room, and effectively screamed at Coon for a few minutes before returning the phone to Umbra’s charger. The next time Coon called Umbra’s cell phone, there was no blaring ringtone leaking out into the night, so Kenny assumed she had set it on silent.

Kenny ended up spending a majority of the night on the roof of Umbra’s home, watching the stars and keeping his ears open for any sound of Coon or the others trying to wake him.

Now, Kenny was heading to school with a well-rested Ashton, and that wasn’t bad by any means. If fact, it was great. Yet Kenny couldn’t get himself to feel excited that Ashton wasn’t inhaling coffee like it was water. His mind was still caught in the game, running over the past 24 hours with no break.

Kenny frowned slightly. He hoped Umbra would be back at 100%, as well. He hadn’t liked how exhausted Umbra was yesterday. Umbra might have been all for the fight, but his attacks hadn’t had much force behind them at all. Instead, he just used those threads he managed to get around Kenny’s ankles without him realizing and kept tripping him. It hadn’t been fun in the slightest.

The memory of the fight yesterday also had Kenny’s cheeks turning red. God, he couldn’t _believe_ he forgot he was straddling Umbra like that, and called him _sweetheart_ on top of it. Sure, he was doing it just to taunt the Shadow Manipulator, but it hadn’t had the desired affection on him at all.

No, instead of getting frustrated, Umbra freaking _blushed_.

That wasn’t the worst part, though. The _worst_ part was that Kenny _liked_ it. He had enjoyed pinned Umbra there and watching him get flustered and lose his cool in a way that hadn’t involved getting angry enough to turn red. Making Umbra turn red from embarrassment was almost as fun as making him frustrated.

Kenny shook his head, mentally slapping himself for even thinking about it, and kicked another snow bank to appease his frustration as he and the others went into the school. He had to stop thinking about Umbra during school hours. He had to focus on Ashton, had to focus on being Kenny and not Mysterion.

It was hard, though, when he looked up and saw such bright violet eyes looking right at him with the same intensity Umbra had.

\---

The fact Ashton really _had_ needed over 10 hours of sleep was ridiculous, and yet that was what happened.

It didn’t help that whatever happened yesterday was a bit of a blur after talking with Tweek and Craig. He remembered shoving Craig into the same room as Tweek and telling Tweek’s mother to not let them out until their problems were solved- which, in hindsight, was a _terrible_ idea to execute with the Tweaks, considering how terrible of parents they were. Seriously, who gave their anxious child _meth-laced coffee_?

The only other thing he remembered as more than just a blur was fighting with Mysterion (or, more accurately, getting his _ass_ handed to him).

After that, he just remembered waking up to his dad shaking his shoulder and telling him it was time for school.

Turns out, Ashton found out as he checked his phone as he headed downstairs, he had slept like the dead from 4 in the afternoon to 6 in the morning, and through a number of calls he didn’t even _want_ to know the reasons for.

At school, Ashton stuffed his jacket into his locker and put his textbooks for the classes after lunch on the small shelf inside the locker. Cartman was complaining about something next to him to Kyle and Stan, probably about last night or the fact they had lost the fight yesterday. Kenny had gone off to join Craig’s gang for the day, apparently agreeing with Ashton in thinking Cartman was far too insufferable for the day. Ashton was jealous he wasn’t going to have to deal with it _after_ school, too.

“Ashton, dude, please just help us get him to _stop_.” Kyle begged, making Ashton peek around his locker door and smile apologetically at Kyle and Stan.

“How would anything I say help get him to stop being an ass about it?” He asked, completely honest. He didn’t know what to say to Cartman that would make him accept that yesterday was a suck-y day for Coon and Friends, and anything he _would_ say, wasn’t going to comfort the brown-haired boy in the slightest.

He closed his locker, clicking the lock closed and spinning the dial once. He zipped his bag back up and slung it over his shoulder, giving Kyle and Stan another apologetic look. “Also, sorry boys, but I’m hanging out with Craig and his gang today.”

“What?!”

“No, come on, man! We need you or we’ll go crazy listening to this fatass!”

“Hey!”

Ashton laughed weakly. “Well, if you put aside your differences for the day, I’m sure Craig, Tweek, Clyde, and Token would be happy to have you for the day.”

“But-“ Stan began, before cutting himself off and glaring at the ground. “I hate when you’re right.” He grumbled, huffing a moment before looking at Kyle, as if asking what he wanted to do.

Kyle sighed, looking between Stan, Cartman, and Craig’s gang near the end of the hall. “We’ll decide by lunch. If we make it to lunch with Cartman, I don’t think there’d be much point in hanging out with Craig and the others.”

Ashton shrugged, ignoring Cartman’s offended shout. “Sounds good to me. I’ll let the others know.” He waved goodbye to the three and made his way over to Craig’s gang.

Token raised an eyebrow as Ashton walked over, an amused smile on his face. “What’s got all of you coming over here today?”

“Cartman.” Kenny and Ashton said at the same time; Kenny like it was a curse and Ashton like it was as obvious as the sun.

Token nodded solemnly, knowing exactly what they meant without any further explanation.

Ashton looked at Craig and Tweek, smiling brightly when he noticed that Craig’s hand was around Tweek’s waist. “I take it you worked everything out?”

“Yep! Thanks for the help, Ashton!” Tweek said happily, and Ashton smiled kindly.

“Aw, no need to thank me! You two did all the work.”

Craig chuckled, the corners of his lips lifting into a smile. “You made sure we actually talked about it though, and you made me realize I had my head up my ass.”

“Yeah,” Ashton laughed, rolling his eyes. “By shouting, might I add. I could have, y’know, _not_ been a hypocrite and just calmly told you to check your behavior.”

Craig shrugged, grabbing his books from his locker. “I needed it, you were tired. Shouting was bound to happen.”

“Either way, Craig and Tweek are back together which makes _everyone_ infinitely happier.” Cylde chuckled, “So everything’s good in the world again.”

“Yeah, you guys are like a hissing kitten and kicked puppy dog when you guys aren’t talking to each other. It sucks.” Kenny added, a smirk clear in his voice. Token, Clyde, and Ashton burst out laughing while Craig flipped Kenny off as Tweek turned bright red and hid his face in his hands.

“Shut the fuck up, Kenny. I’m not a kitten!” Craig huffed.

Ashton chuckled, smiling slyly at the couple. “Actually, you kind of are, dude.”

“Yeah you act all threatening but it’s actually kind of adorable when it involves Tweek.” Clyde explained, grinning innocently as Craig shot him a glare. “Aw, you don’t need to act all tough about it!”

Ashton smiled, rolling his eyes as Craig and Clyde started bantering about whether or not Craig was a kitten. He looked over to Tweek, leaning against the lockers. “So? No complaints over being called a puppy?”

Tweek shrugged, thinking about it. “I mean, I guess I kind of am? Everyone always tells me that at least.”

“That’s ‘cause we all love you and want to protect you, silly.” Token chuckled, reaching over and patting the top of Tweek’s head. That made Tweek’s face turn bright red down to his collar bone, and Ashton smiled kindly. It really was nice to see how close this group was to each other, especially when being around Cartman all the time.

“Oh, right! I need to ask you guys something.”

“What’s up?” Craig asked, breaking off his argument with Clyde and looking over at Ashton. Ashton smiled, a little embarrassed to be asking this. He knew that Craig and Stan got along about as well as oil and water, but he still felt bad about leaving Kyle and Stan to deal with Cartman alone.

“Well, I know you and Stan don’t get along, but I was wondering if it’d be alright for Stan and Kyle to hang out with us today?”

Craig raised an eyebrow, as if asking he was serious. “Dude, seriously?”

“Yeah,” Ashton chuckled slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean, it’s my fault Cartman’s being an even bigger baby today than usual, and I feel bad about leaving them alone to deal with it.”

“I’d normally stay but if I spend a second longer with Cartman today I’m going to punch him in the face.” Kenny explained, and Ashton nodded in agreement.

“I’m going to be hearing about it enough after school, which is why I’m not hanging out with Stan and Kyle, either.”

Craig’s lips twitched down into a frown, and he was glaring at the tile pattern on the floor.

Token sighed, nudging Craig lightly. “Come on, dude. They may be annoying but we shouldn’t let them suffer.”

Craig sighed, looking at Tweek. “What do you think, Tweek?” He asked softly.

Tweek twitched at the question, hands shaking a bit more from nervousness even as Craig gave his waist a comforting squeeze. “Well… If they want to come over for the day, I guess that’s alright.”

Craig nodded, looking back at Ashton and Kenny. “Yeah,” He sighed, making sure to show just how much this pained him to say in his voice, “They can hang out with us if they want to.”

Ashton grinned, fighting the urge to hug them all in thanks. “Awesome! Kyle said if they don’t join by lunch then to just forget about it.”

Craig gave him a thumbs up right as the bell rang for classes to start, and everyone split up to head for class.

\----

Ashton hummed softly as he scrolled through his phone, holding it above his head as he checked Coonstagram and listening to music. The chill of the snow was comforting against his back and he was oddly comfortable with his legs resting against the school wall, occasionally tapping his foot against the brick to the beat.

“Wow, are you _comfortable_ like that?”

Ashton spluttered as someone kicked a bit of snow in his face, scrambling to keep his phone in his hands and not on his face. He pulled out one of his earbuds and pouted at the boy standing over him, a cocky grin on his face.

“And if I am?” He asked in return, rolling his eyes a moment later as he paused his music and carefully wrapped his headphones around his phone.

Clyde looked at Ashton curiously, peeking around to look at Ashton from the side. “Dude, your ass is right up against the school building.” He looked back at Ashton, “You’re at a ninety degree angle, upside down, in snow. It doesn’t look comfortable in the slightest.”

“And yet I am.” Ashton said with a small laugh, “What’s up?”

Clyde shrugged, pointing to some place behind him. “Eh, we’re all thinking of skipping last period today. Wanna come?”

“Well this is my study hall, and I’ve already signed myself out for the day so _hell yeah_ I do.” Ashton chuckled, holding his phone up to Cylde. “Hold this for a second.”

Clyde frowned in confusion, taking Ashton’s phone from him. “Okay…. Why?”

“Why do you think? I’m getting up and don’t want to risk breaking it.” Ashton chuckled, the crunch of snow under boots catching his attention as he braced his hands by his head and flattened his feet against the wall. He pushed against the ground, arching up off the ground. He tried not to shiver as the front of his shirt slipped down, exposing his stomach to the cold winter air.

He smiled at the Craig, Token, Tweek, and Kenny from upside down, quickly offering them as wave. “Hey guys. Stand back for a second please.”

When his way was cleared, Ashton pushed off the wall with his feet, kicking them over himself. He grunted slightly as he flipped over making sure he got his balance before he stood back up. He turned back around to face the others, covering a smile with his hand as he chuckled at their surprised expressions.

“What?”

“Dude,” Token began as Ashton brushed snow off his pants and grabbed his bag. “Why didn’t you mention you are _flexible as hell_?”

Ashton blinked at them, not seeing what the big deal was as he straightened his shirt and re-tucked the back. “I mean, I just used momentum to flip myself over. It’s not that hard.”

“No, I’ve tried that before and just fall right over.” Clyde explained, handing Ashton his phone back. “But the thing that takes the cake, Ashton, is the fact you went from being a freaking ‘L’ to an arc in one fluid motion with no problem at all.”

“Then flipped over with the same amount of ease.” Craig added. “Did you gymnastics or something?”

Ashton laughed, nodding. “Among other things.” He added, thinking back to how his parents had him do gymnastics and taught him how to fight after they found out he had his dad’s abilities.

 _“Flexibility and being able to fight are important, even if we don’t want you to follow in our footsteps.”_ His mother had explained, when he asked, _“Someone might come after you, and you need to be able to protect yourself.”_

“That’s pretty cool!” Tweek said with a grin, and Ashton shrugged lightly.

“Thanks.” He hummed, before motioning to the street. “Anyway, shall we get going before you guys get caught?”

“Oh, right. Let’s go!”


	13. Which Class Is The Right One?

“I can’t believe we skipped just so we could do homework.” Clyde whined softly from his place on Token’s couch. Token rolled his eyes, lightly hitting the top of Clyde’s head with his pencil.

“Well, would you rather do homework here, where you can have snacks or play games to take a break, or back at school with a teacher staring over your shoulder and forcing you to stay silent?”

“…Fair point.” Clyde mumbled, frowning at the notebook in his lap. “It still sucks though.”

“Well you’re going to fall behind if you keep ignoring your math homework, so _do it_ , Clyde.”

Ashton chuckled from his place on the ground, highlighting another sentenced in the printed copy of the textbook chapter he needed to read. “You’re starting to sound like a mom friend, Token.”

Token scoffed, smiling easily as he waved a hand at Ashton. “ _Please,_ I _am_ the mom friend.”

“You’re one to talk, Ashton.” Kenny chuckled from his place between Craig and Ashton. “You’re constantly scolding or lecturing someone.”

“I am not!”

“Eh, it’s here and there.” Tweek said, not looking up from his own math homework. “You usually only scold or lecture when it’s needed.”

“Yeah, unlike Wendy.”

“Craig!”

“What? She’s always trying to fix _something_ about someone.”

“It’s still not nice to talk about her like that!”

Craig huffed, but didn’t bring her up again, instead pulling Tweek closer to him and mumbling an apology into his boyfriend’s hair. The rest of the group all let out a collective “Aw” at the action, which only made Craig flip them off.

Ashton chuckled, rolling his eyes as he looked back at his reading assignment. “Well, I’m almost done here, what about you guys?”

“I gave up on my chemistry homework about five minutes ago.” Kenny groaned, letting his head fall back onto the couch. “When the hell am I going to need to know all those chemical compounds or whatever? It’s stupid.”

“Yeah, chemistry _sucked_ at my old school.” Ashton paused, “I think it’s ‘cause I suck at math, though.”

“Holy crow, you mean our little advance placement boy has something he’s _bad_ at?!” Clyde gasped, causing Ashton to roll his eyes and throw his blue highlighter at the jock.

“Oh, shush!” Ashton scolded as Clyde laughed, catching the highlighter with ease and tossing it back. “If you noticed, all my AP classes are social studies and English. _Not_ math related, thank you very much.”

Token chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Well, I’m done with the chemistry work. You can copy it if you want, Ken.”

Kenny shot up, eyes wide and hopeful as he looked at Token. “Really?! You’d let me copy? That’d be awesome, Token!”

Token smiled, nodding. “Yeah, go ahead. You’re on your own for tests though, you hear me?”

“That’s fine! Kyle’s just gonna end up tutoring me, anyway.” Kenny eagerly took Token’s homework when it was offered to him, quickly starting to copy down the work.

“Tweek and I are almost gone with our work, too.” Craig said with a small hum, Tweek nodding quickly in agreement.

“How much reading do you have left, Ashton? Clyde’s got about…” Token leaned over, looking at Clyde’s math homework, ignoring the brown-haired boy’s squawk of indignation. “Six problems left. Think you’ll finish around then?”

Ashton hummed, flipping through the pages of the chapter. “Yeah. I’ve got about three more pages, give or take.”

Ashton’s phone chimed from its place next to Kenny, making Ashton sigh and make a grabby motion in the air for it. Kenny rolled his eyes and tossed it to Ashton. Ashton grinned brightly at him before checking the message, frowning immediately.

“Oh, great.” He sighed, hanging his head in defeat. “Cartman’s home and ready to start the game back up.”

“And yell at you?” Clyde asked with a small frown. Ashton nodded with another sigh, resting his hand on his forehead raising his arm and dropping his phone onto Token’s carpet like he was sending it to its death. It let out a dull thud, bouncing slightly before landing face down.

“He’s going to kill me.” Ashton mumbled, pushing his bangs back away from his face. He could already feel the headache coming.

“Why were you so tired yesterday, anyway, dude?” Craig asked, and to Ashton’s relief Kenny was the one who responded.

“He’s an old man who spent too many days in a row screwing up his sleep schedule.”

Okay, maybe it was a mistake to have Kenny answer.

Ashton lightly hit Kenny’s foot as he finally sat up, stretching over the blonde to grab his backpack. “Oh, shut up. I’m not an old man.”

“Be prepared to stay up late tonight. Secret operation.” Craig explained as Ashton packed his things. Ashton let out another loud groan, frustration building up inside him. Could he not have _one_ regular night’s sleep this week? Seriously, it was only Wednesday and Ashton was tired of Cartman’s insistence.

…. Maybe he was turning into an old man.

Ashton groaned as he got to his feet, stretching before pulling on his jacket and his backpack. “Well, I’ll go get the yelling out of his system now, bye guys.”

“Good luck!”

\----

Kenny waved as Ashton left Token’s place, feeling bad for his friend. He didn’t deserve to be yelled at for getting sleep because that ability of his used a lot of energy. He wasn’t about to break his trust and tell the others about it, though- not that they’d believe him.

Well, Scott Malkinson might, seeing as he experienced it firsthand like Kenny had.

“Someone remind me why we hang out with Cartman again.” Craig said after a moment, and Kenny wished he could give him a better answer than “He’s annoying as fuck when he plays the victim.”

“Ashton can handle himself.” Token said with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as he leaned back on the couch.

“I feel like we sent him to a death sentence.” Tweek mumbled, anxiously tapping his pencil against his notebook. As frantic as it was, Kenny found the repetitive sound relaxing. Although maybe it was because it was Tweek doing it that it wasn’t annoying. Who knew?

Kenny looked down at the worksheets in his lap, frowning down at them for a moment, “He’ll be okay.” Kenny said after a moment, laughing slightly. “Remember how fed up he could get last month, with the stick of truth?”

The four other boys in the room burst into laughter.

“He chewed each of us out at least once, for one reason or another.” Clyde admitted. “Even Cartman.”

“I think he has a limit of about three fucks to give.” Craig mused, “Once he reaches zero, all hell breaks loose.”

“Hey, speaking of hell.” Tweek looked up at Craig, blinking at him innocently. “I don’t think the class Ashton chose really fits him.”

Kenny frowned, curious about his words. “Really? How so?”

Tweek instinctively tensed from the question, and Kenny felt bad about making Tweek feel like he was pressured to answer. Before he could say anything to remedy it, though, Tweek was responding.

“W-Well, I’m an Elementalist, see? And I know each one is different but-“ He paused to take a breath, nerves making him speak a little quicker than necessary. “Shadows and darkness have never been an element.” He looked at Kenny then, “I think he’d fit better as a Netherborn, like you, Kenny.”

Kenny’s eyes widened in shock at Tweek’s words, “It’s not that simple…” falling from his lips before he had even given it much thought. The more he thought about it, though, the more sense it _did_ make. Ashton had his power and Kenny his curse. Both of which were on the dark, sinister side of the spectrum, although neither of them were classified as sinister. They didn’t really fall into any of the categories the others made up. Couldn’t follow the same limitations, even.

“You make a valid point, babe.” Craig said, making Tweek relax again. “But Cartman’s placed really strict rules over it. New recruits to Coon and Friends need to choose from one of three classes- Elementalists wasn’t one of the three he offered, either. Ashton’s already in trouble with the asshole for ignoring his rules or whatever.”

“That’s so stupid.” Tweek scoffed, “it’s Ashton’s character, not his.”

Kenny nodded in agreement. “As long as he doesn’t become OP, there’s no reason to control his character.” He said with a small sigh. He handed Token his homework back and got to his feet, shaking his head. “If Ashton ever wants to become a Netherborn, he can. Whatever he thinks is the class that fits him best.” He paused as he grabbed his bag, frowning thoughtfully at the ground. Something was forming at the back of his mind, whispering _what-if_ s but not actually giving him coherent thoughts to question.

He could feel questions creeping around in his head, but what they were slipped through his fingers like they were fog.

“What’s up, Kenny?” Clyde asked, and Kenny shook his head, shoving his work into his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

“Nothing. I’m going to head home- Karen’s going to be back soon, and I want to be there when she gets back.”

“Alright,” Craig said with a small chuckle. The sound shocked Kenny a little, having forgotten just how pliant Craig was when he was cuddling up with Tweek. It was almost sickeningly sweet, the more Kenny thought about it.

He wished he had something like that, too.

“Clyde and I’ll do our bests to keep Ashton from exhausting himself again tonight.”

“Good luck with that, thanks.” Kenny said honestly, smiling at the group as he headed for the door.

“See you in a bit, Ken!” Tweek and Token called, and Kenny waved as he left.

He sighed as he left the big mansion, pulling his parka hood back up over his head to block the chill. A flash of movement in the shadows caught his attention, and Kenny instinctively tensed. _Please don’t be something coming to kill me, please don’t be something coming to kill me_. He quietly begged, knowing even if it was, his pleas wouldn’t be heard.

Kenny felt the tension leave his shoulders the moment Umbra appeared from the shadows, mildly fascinated by the show of his powers from an outsider perspective. Kenny was sure the movement he had caught was a swell of shadows, sort of like a bubble that was getting ready to pop. Yet there had been no pop, and instead, Umbra’s form had calmly walked out of the tree’s shadow, the shadows trying to stick to him before falling away like water. It was… It was breathtaking.

Wait.

 _Breathtaking_?

Kenny frowned shaking his head. Umbra wasn’t _breathtaking_. He was an annoying, smug, cocky, _flirtatious_ bastard who got the better end of the evil-cult-powers stick than Kenny did. It made his stomach sour just thinking about it.

He watched as Umbra looked around, a small frown on his face. What was he looking for, anyway?

The moment Kenny wondered that, Umbra made eye contact with him and his whole face lit up in excitement before the hero schooled his expression back into curiosity as he walked over.

“Hello!” Umbra said cheerfully, and Kenny offered him a small wave. “Are you one of Karen McCormick’s elder brothers?”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Kenny explained, hiding a small smile behind his parka. It was so dorky that Ashton was pretending not to know him, and at the same time completely like him now that he was in character.

Ashton never really did half-ass anything, did he?

“Name’s Kenny McCormick. What do you want, Mr. Shadow Vigilante?”

Umbra hummed, a smirk gracing his features and nearly making Kenny roll his eyes as Umbra’s violet ones looked him up and down. “Well,” Umbra began, reaching behind him and pulling something from the criss-crossing belts around his waist. The belts fell further on his hips as he moved his hands back around to the front, and Kenny’s eyes widened when he caught sight of the familiar doll in his hands.

“Karen’s doll!” He gasped, fighting the urge to snatch it from Umbra’s hands. Umbra chuckled, smiling kindly as he grabbed Kenny’s hand and placed the doll in it. “Where’d you find it?”

“In the police station.” Umbra explained easily, rubbing the back of his neck, “In the room of that therapist guy or whatever, with the creepy clowns?” Umbra shuddered then, clearly disturbed, and Kenny was suddenly reminded of the Kyrponite section on their character sheets. “Anyway, I had gone there to ask the police some questions and, well, I thought the best thing to do would be give it to one of her brothers so they could return it instead of a stranger.

“Thank you.” Kenny said, grateful. Karen had been looking for her doll for over a week now, and Kenny had been searching everywhere for it.

Why he hadn’t even thought to check the police station, Kenny would never know. In the end, he was just happy the doll had been found.

“It’s nothing.” Umbra hummed, “I’m just happy she’ll have her doll again.” He paused for a moment, frowning slightly. “Hey, uh… You’re friends with the people who live here, right?” Umbra motioned to Token’s home behind him, and Kenny nodded, confused.

“Do-“ Umbra seemed to cringe at the thought of his next words, which made Kenny wonder just what he was struggling to ask. “Do they seem like bad people?”

Kenny frowned. “Do Token and his parents seem like bad people?” He repeated blandly. Umbra nodded weakly. Kenny sighed, shaking his head. Guess Umbra was figuring out that the police weren’t as safe or helpful as he thought right now, and he really hoped his question didn’t mean what he thought he did. “No, they don’t. They’re good guys.”

Umbra sighed, scrubbing his face with his hand. “That’s what I thought.” He mumbled under his breath, looking up at the sky like it might have the answers to his problem. “Thanks for the help, Kenny, and please tell Token that he and his family need to be extra careful for a while.”

“Sure thing.” Kenny waved goodbye as Umbra started heading back down the street, turning into a pocket of space between alleys and most likely using his ability again. Kenny wondered just how it worked- Umbra seemed a lot more willing to use it when it was just him instead of with other people.

He shook his head, starting down towards his home. He pulled his phone from his pocket, sighing slightly as he called Token’s cell.

_“Kenny?”_

“No, it’s Mysterion.” Kenny said in his Mysterion voice. “I’ve got bad news. Gather the Freedom Pals as soon as you can- we need to come up with a plan.”


	14. Mission 2: Start!

Umbra couldn’t believe he was stuck doing these stupid, unnecessary side quests all over again.

First, he had to spend 20 minutes listening to Coon yell at him for not answering any of his calls and be unable to help them sneak into the U-Stor-It, which they were now going to be doing tonight. Then, he had to deal with South Park’s unnecessary involvement in his personal life.

He sighed heavily, a headache starting to form as Mr. Mackey tried to explain all the genders and sexualities to Umbra. He didn’t need this right now. He really, _really_ didn’t.

“Is that gender-“

“Mr-- Mr. Mackey-- Mr. Mackey, just-- just let me put you on hold, right there.” Umbra said, lifting his head from his hands and pressing his palms together to point at the school counselor. “Okay? I’m 17, not 7. I know what my gender and sexuality are. The-- the gender is in the head and sex is what you’re born with thing? I get that, too, okay?”

“A-Are you sure, cause, uh,--“

Umbra knew the man was trying, he really did, but Umbra knew what he was and he didn’t want to sit here going through a list of questions that would just make him confused and trying to wrap his head around all the finer details when he _could_ be trying to find the Supernatural in town and, you know, keeping his life _his_ and not for all of South Park to know.

“I am a cisgender male. That has not changed, alright?” Umbra said softly. “I’m not telling you my sexuality, because I _really_ don’t feel comfortable telling you that. So can I go now?”

“Oh, uh… Alright...” Mr. Mackey said, staring at Umbra with a dumbfounded look on his face. “You can go now.”

“Thank you.” Umbra left the room, sighing heavily and rubbing his temples in an attempt to curve the headache. He was infinitely grateful he had been able to just say what he needed to with the Principal already, not wanting to deal with a man who straight up _terrified_ him after having to talk about his gender and sexuality with a school counselor who, in all fairness, wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box.

He pulled out his phone as it rang, glaring at Coon. “Attention all Coon and Friends! We have the information we need and are ready for our next mission! Everyone report to the Coon Lair, immediately! Coon out!”

The call ended, and Umbra was both relieved and frustrated. Really, this game of theirs wasn’t helpful to his own mission or fun at all whenever he got like this.

He leaned against the school building, taking deep breaths and telling himself to calm down. Just one last day with Coon and Friends- it was already obvious that the Supernatural in town _wasn’t_ on Coon’s team, and as much as Umbra liked a good portion of the team, if he stayed here any longer he would probably murder Coon.

He slipped into the shadows and made his way over to Cartman’s home, appearing in the shadows beside his house. He walked the rest of the distance to Cartman’s place and headed down to the Coon Lair, sitting down in his usual spot.

The others filed in soon after, and the moment everyone was in their seats, Coon started the meeting. “All right everyone. Yesterday, ButtLord-“

“Umbra,” Umbra hissed in frustration.

Coon glared, cleared his throat, and repeated, “ _ButtLord_ interrogated Classi and found out the cats are being held at the local U-Stor-It. Last night, we attempted a failed operation to get in and get Scrambles, thanks to _someone_ not answering his phone!”

Umbra glowered, silently giving him a warning.

“The entire entrance of U-Stor-It is declared lava!” Mosquito exclaimed, “Even if Umbra had been able to come last night, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything!”

_Well, technically, I could. But that would give me away._ Umbra thought, a tiny bit smug. He could get through all those obstacles easily.

“You didn’t just try to climb the fence?” He asked instead, and Captain Diabetes looked at him.

“Why don’t you just use that neat power of yours, Umbra?”

“What power?” Fastpass asked, and before Umbra could divert the group’s attention elsewhere, Captain Diabetes was spilling it all far too eagerly.

He told the group about how he had run out of insulin and couldn’t use his Diabetic Rage to clear their path and Umbra “pulled us into this really dark range of emptiness for a few minutes before we were on the other side of the obstacle,” and all Umbra could do was stare.

When the other Coon Friends looked at him for answers, Umbra’s mind was racing, trying to come up with a proper response that could hide away his actual ability but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t come up with anything that wouldn’t fall apart in seconds.

After a few very long, very tense seconds, Umbra just slumped in his chair. He couldn’t hide it, now, could he? Not after so long a stretch of silence, or the unnatural “teleportation” that only Timmy seemed to have and Captain Diabetes had seen firsthand before describing it in vivid detail to the other Coon Friends. “What happened to keeping that a secret?” Umbra asked, and at least Captain Diabetes had the sense to look guilty.

“Wait, you mean you seriously-“ Super Craig paused, thinking over it carefully. “You know what, I can see that.”

“It _does_ explain how crazy tired you were yesterday.” Human Kite added, even as Coon looked like he was ready to throttle Umbra. On instinct, Umbra pushed back with his feet and held up his hands in surrender.

“Hey, I’ve been keeping it a secret and trying not to use it. Can you _please_ not look at me like it’s _my_ fault?”

Coon growled, some sort of retort on his lips before Human Kite stepped in again. “Hey, wait a second, Toolshed has an ability that helps him clear lava, and he owes Umbra a favor. Let’s just use that.”

Coon sighed, clasping his hands together in front of him. “Well, sounds like you’re going to come in handy again, ButtLord.”

“It’s— ah, screw it, never mind.” Umbra groaned, already mentally exhausted. He ran a hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair and keeping a foot on the ground to help him balance. “I give up.”

“Super Craig, write an anonymous email to Toolshed. Tell him that New Kid is ready to have his favor returned. Everyone else, get home and go to bed. We meet at the U-Stor-It tonight.

“To bed, everybody!” Mosquito repeated, and Umbra was among the first few to stand up and get out of the room as fast as he could.

“So do you actually have a power?” Mosquito asked when the group was outside. Umbra shrugged, not particularly sure he wanted to have this conversation,

“I mean, yeah, pretty much… But it’s a secret for a reason, and I’d rather we not talk about it at all. I’ll use it when I have to but that’s it.” He explained sternly, and the other Coon friends around him nodded quickly in agreement.

“That’s pretty cool though, dude.” Kyle explained and Umbra shrugged again. He supposed it was.

Fastpass hummed in thought for a moment, “So what _is_ your backstory?” He asked, and Umbra shook his head.

“That is a secret I’d like to keep as well, thank you. Anyway, see you guys tonight.” He waved goodbye and started heading for his home, hoping there wouldn’t be any arguing over him having to talk to the principal and counselor again.

“How long do you think it’ll be until they found out everything!? We need to be more careful, Dio!” His mom’s voice echoed as he entered the house, and Ashton could only wince as he took off his mask.

“If you would just stop being _paranoid_ for five seconds, Reya, we could figure out a calm, rational solution!”

“I am _not_ paranoid! _You’re_ paranoid!”

“Yes, you are! You’ve been paranoid ever since we moved here and I’m telling you, it’s only made us seem _more_ suspicious!”

Ashton’s mother growled in anger, but it was quickly followed by a harsh bought of coughing that had the tense air disappearing and Ashton running up the steps as fast as he could. “Mom!”

“I’m okay, I’m okay!” His mother croaked, nearly doubled over and leaning against his dad for support. “Just a coughing fit, nothing to worry about.”

“Alright, that’s enough for tonight.” His dad said softly, all the anger in his voice fading into loving concern. “Let’s get you downstairs and put on a movie, I’ll make dinner.” He looked up at Ashton, smiling at him. “You go change and head to the basement. I want you to practice, you hear? You didn’t have time to do it yesterday, but you can’t slack off.”

Ashton nodded slowly, looking down again for a moment. “The arguing wasn’t because of me again, was it?”

“Oh, sweetie.” Ashton’s mother cooed, reaching up and ruffling his hair. “It’s not like that at all, I promise. So go practice, okay?”

Ashton had a feeling she was just saying that to make him feel better, but he really didn’t want to fight it. He sighed, nodding. “Okay.”

\---

Umbra stretched as he went out his door, wondering where Toolshed was going to appear from. Almost immediately as he thought about it, though, did toolshed appear from the bushes in a similar way Captain Diabetes had.

“So… we meet again, Umbra.”

“It’s a pleasure.” Umbra stated, bowing his head slightly in greeting.

Toolshed put his power drill back on his toolbelt, walking forward. “I have to put our petty differences aside. There’s something happening in this city and it needs _all_ of us good heroes to solve it.”

“Oh, don’t worry. These are my last few days with Coon and Friends.” Umbra admitted with a small smile. “I plan on joining Freedom Pals once I know what I’m looking for is no longer here.”

“What are you looking for?” Toolshed asked, motioning for him to follow him down the street.

“That, my dear Toolshed, is a secret.” Umbra said with a small chuckle. Toolshed pouted from being kept in the dark, but he didn’t push further.

“Alright. Well, follow me to Professor Chaos’ lair.” Toolshed said with a small huff. He started talking about how he was given his powers, how he was certain something odd was going on in the town.

“The Freedom Pals and I have been tracking Professor Chaos and the crime in the city for weeks now, trying to find the cause behind the missing cats and the extra strange behavior the adults have been showing lately. So far, it all leads to the U-Stor-It here in town.”

“So this is going to be a group effort?” Umbra asked, wondering if that meant the rest of the Freedom Pals would be joining in. Toolshed frowned, shaking his head.

“I’m afraid not. We had hoped to gather far more information than what we have right now, but…”

“Coon is too insistent, and you can’t keep him out.” Umbra finished, sighing heavily. “Of course that’s the case.”

Toolshed nodded, sighing softly as well. “Mysterion and I will be joining you tonight to try and keep the rest of the Coon Friends out of danger, and to find out our own information.”

Umbra hummed, thinking over it carefully as they crossed over the train tracks. “We’re lucky to have you.”

“Damn right you are.”

Umbra gave Toolshed a look from the corner of his gaze, silently challenging him to clarify what he meant. Toolshed cleared his throat, blushing lightly. “Sorry. Habit.”

“So what are we doing heading towards this part of town? The U-Stor-It is on a different street entirely.”

Toolshed stood a little straighter as Ashton changed the topic, glad to move on. “Mysterion has a shortcut to the north of town. He’ll be meeting us here.”

“Ah.” Umbra nodded, looking around at the beat up buildings surrounding Kenny’s home. It really did look awful around here- almost apocalyptic with the abandoned buildings surrounding the one-story home. Couldn’t the town have _tried_ to help them fix up the place?

A tickling sensation crept along the back of Umbra’s neck, wisps of shadows moving and shifting in the corner of his vision as something walked through. He turned, smiling when he saw Mysterion coming towards them.

“Good evening, Mysterion.” Umbra said politely as the hooded superhero stepped into the dim moonlight.

“Umbra,” Mysterion responded gruffly, that edge to his voice that showed he wasn’t that big a fan of Umbra’s just a little bit heavier than normal. Umbra smiled to himself, happy he could get Mysterion to lose his cool. “Thanks for finding Karen’s doll earlier today. This is the first time in days she’s slept so peacefully.”

“Aw, it was nothing. Anything for my favorite female McCormick.” Umbra said with a small laugh, grinning at the other male.

Mysterion didn’t respond, instead motioning for Toolshed and Umbra to follow him. “We need to be quiet, alright? My parents can’t know we’re here.”

Umbra mimed zipping his lips shut, following the Freedom Pals into Mysterion’s home.

Not much had changed since the last time Ashton was in Kenny’s house, the neon sign on the wall above the couch buzzing a little louder as the B in Beer flickered and the engine on the table leaking a little more oil. As they drew closer to the back of the house, Kenny’s parents arguing grew louder and louder. Mysterion’s shoulders twitched like had wanted to shrink in on himself, and Umbra wondered if he was embarrassed or ashamed to have his friends hear his parents arguing about meth they bought with welfare money.

He wished he could see his face in order to know how to respond.

Instead, Umbra stayed silent as they crept into Mysterion’s room, and Umbra had to fight to keep his expression neutral at the many posters of naked girls on the walls instead of give away his discomfort. As he looked around he noticed the corner of a picture peeking out between the two worn and destroyed mattresses on the floor, and though his curiosity was peeked, he looked away and chose not to mention it. He wasn’t going to snoop around his friend’s room.

“The shortcut is here in the closet.” Mysterion grunted softly, throwing his weight against the broken door of the closet and shaking it loose before pushing it out of the way.

The closet was just as bare as the room it was a part of, a few outfits and Kenny’s signature parka hanging with care on hangers. It made Umbra’s heart hurt a little, like it always did to see so few things in Kenny’s room, and he swore that he’d get Kenny one of the best Christmas gifts the boy had ever been given yet.

His eye caught the pile of magazines on the makeshift bench as Mysterion went to activate the secret door, and he tried not to blush at the sight of a mostly naked dude on the cover. Okay, they were _that_ kind of magazine.

He quickly looked away and went through the hatch, pretending not to notice the smirk or slightly embarrassed blush Mysterion wore on his face. If they both acted like they hadn’t been caught, the sooner it’d be forgotten. In Kenny’s backyard, Toolshed, completely unaware of the subtle exchange in the closet, turned to look at them, grinning proudly.

“Now to show you Toolshed’s most powerful tool- the sand blaster!” He exclaimed, walking over to the generator and the legos blocking their way out. “With the force it generates, I can clear nearly any obstacle!”

Toolshed hooked his sandblaster up to the generator, turning it on and aiming the blaster at the legos. He activated the blaster, and the legos blocking their way were blown out of the way with one blast.

Umbra let out an impressed whistle, turning off the generator as he followed Toolshed and Mysterion through the hole in the fence and towards the town.


	15. Ashton/Umbra References!

Ta-da! Another upload within 24 hours!

This, however, is not a story chapter, but rather something that a couple of you have been wanting and I thought I'd provide in a chapter of its own- Ashton/Umbra References!

I'd like to mention that these are not super concrete- Ashton's casual outfits can change and the placement of Umbra's belts/pouches vary as well. Also the white belt is technically the studded belt I mentioned Ashton having in the first (or was it second? XD) chapter, I just haven't figured out how to make it look studded with my current skill level so right now it's just white.

 

Ashton:

  


  


 Umbra:

  


[ ](http://ibb.co/kNd6ub)

 

Other Important Info:

  1. He always tucks the back of his shirt in, but never the front
  2. Right ear is pierced, usually a flat silver, dangling star or simple post earring



There _is_ in fact more that meets the eye with Ashton's appearance, but I want to keep it a surprise for later in the story so I'm afraid I can't tell you them now. Sorry if that's unhelpful at all!

 

Also! If you do draw me something, I'd love to see it! I'm on twitter @MoMoTheDemigod , so please tag me in it there if you can!


	16. Searching for Secrets

Mysterion sighed as they wandered down the streets towards the U-Stor-It, wondering just how he was going to go about this. Should he let himself be seen by the other Coon and Friends, or should he hide away in the shadows?

Umbra hopped over to Mysterion’s side, leaning over a bit to be seen more clearly in the corner of his vision. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Well, no point in thinking about it all by himself, he supposed. “Do you think we should let Coon and Friends know I’m here?”

Umbra hummed thoughtfully, looking up at the star-filled sky. “I’ll admit, it’d be far easier if we did.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Mysterion huffed, looking at Toolshed. “What do you think, ‘Shed?”

“Let’s just get it out of the way and tell them.” Toolshed said simply, glowering slightly as he looked at the U-Stor-It they were quickly growing closer to. “At least then there’ll be less arguing.”

“True.” Umbra agreed, and Mysterion nodded.

“They’re here!” Coon’s obnoxious voice rang out through the night, “Coon Friends, assemble!”

Mysterion turned, tucking his hands into his pants pockets and raising an eyebrow as Coon climbed off the car across the street and the other coon friends joined in and posed.

“Well, well, looks like the buttfucking traitor actually- hey! What’s Mysterion doing here?!”

“I came to give you idiots backup.” Mysterion grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest a moment later. Umbra nudged him in the side, giving him a pointed look, and Mysterion rolled his eyes in return. Okay, he admitted that the others weren’t _all_ idiots, but still. They were stupid for continuing to side with Cartman, that’s for sure.

“Well, whatever the reasons, can we just hurry and do this?” Umbra said quickly, obviously trying to keep a fight from breaking out. “We can argue _after_ finding the cats.”

“Can you, or can you not get us over that fence?” Super Craig asked, and Toolshed scoffed.

“Just watch.”

Tool shed walked over to the power generator, attaching his sand blaster and turning it on. He cleared the legos that were in the way, and Human Kite called for Coon and Friends to charge forward.

Mysterion watched as Umbra slapped a hand to his face in exasperation, looking around to make sure the area was clear before heading through the entrance.

“Let’s get one thing straight, ‘Shed, Mysterion. I don’t trust you.” Coon said, pointing a clawed finger at the two of them threateningly. “You make one move outta line and I’ll shred you.”

 _Yeah right, dumbass. I’ll just come back even if you try._ Mysterion thought, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. Umbra did it for him by letting out an exaggerated groan.

“Really, Coon, _that’s_ a good idea. Make the two heroes _helping_ you dislike you even more!”

“Shut _up_ , Douchebag! No one asked you!”

“We’re only here for Umbra, so cool your jets, fatass.” Mysterion remarked as he passed the self-imposed leader of Coon and Friends.

“Yeah, after tonight, we’re sworn enemies again.” Toolshed remarked, and Mysterion smirked slightly at the frustrated growl that Coon let out.

Mysterion wandered over to Umbra, who was studying a wall with so much intensity it looked like he was about to set the metal on fire. “Don’t tell me you have some sort of heat vision, too.” He joked as he walked over

“GAH!” Umbra nearly jumped out of his skin, whirling around to face Mysterion. It took all he had for the blond not to chuckle as the startled expression quickly turned into a glare. “Shut up.”

Mysterion held up his hands in surrender, knowing his smile didn’t look at all innocent as he spoke to the other hero, “I didn’t say anything.”

“I could see you fighting that laugh.” Umbra grumbled, glowering at Mysterion for a moment before turning around and pointing to the darkened wall. “Something weird is going on with this place, but I don’t know what.”

Mysterion raised an eyebrow, looking at the wall. He couldn’t see anything wrong with it; no cracks, no paint, no dents- nothing. “Really? It looks-“

Umbra stepped forward, a slight skip in his step at first as he walked up to the wall and brushed his fingers against it. He rubbed his fingers together before leaning close, sniffing at the wall. Mysterion stared, wondering if maybe Umbra _hadn’t_ gotten any sleep last night and was just faking being so awake.

“ _What_ are you doing?“

“This walls smells almost completely like spray paint, but there isn’t any on the wall.” Umbra turned to face Mysterion, cocking his head to the side and looking far too similar to a curious puppy for Mysterion’s liking. “Do they make invisible spray paint?”

“Uh, you guys?” Toolshed called, and Mysterion turned to face his teammate. “I think we-“

Before Toolshed could finish his sentence, all the lights in the area turned on, a tv in the upper right corner of the storage block flickering to life.

“….the fuck?” Coon asked under his breath as Umbra and Mysterion took carefully measured steps back towards Toolshed and the others.

“Hello, Coon Friends!” Professor Chaos welcomed with a dark laugh. Mysterion shuddered slightly- Butters might not be the best supervillain out there, but whenever Mysterion saw the kind boy become Professor Chaos it always made him feel mildly uncomfortable. Just seeing Butters try and act evil felt wrong down to the core. “Come into my parlor! I’ve bought more tinfoil and more minions than you can possible fathom! I’ve been given twenty thousand dollars to keep nosey people away from this place.”

“Glad to know our research was right.” Mysterion mumbled under his breath, and Umbra reached up to bite one of his nails, worry in his eyes.

“What?” Coon asked, stunned.

“Twenty thousand just to keep people from snooping around! But I only need a few hundred for that.” Professor Chaos reached down to grab something out of view of the camera, holding up a small hamster a second later. “So you know what I’m gonna do with all the rest?”

“Go to Paris and get a penile enhancement and fuck French chicks?”

Mysterion snickered quietly, covering his mouth with his hand as Umbra spluttered beside him and Coon shot Super Craig a look that almost bordered on disappointment. “Super Craig….”

“Wrong!” Professor Chaos smirked, “I’m going to destroy this town and prove that _I’m_ the bad guy! Not this new kingpin jerk-head! So long, Coon Friends!” Professor Chaos set the hamster in a hamster ball, and Umbra tensed beside Mysterion as the storage compartment door in front of them started to open.

Hamsters galore came running out of the storage room inside their little balls, and Mysterion knew that they were supposed to be threatening, but as they wandered around aimlessly and posed no real threat, he thought they were actually rather cute.

“Minions?” Professor Chaos asked, leaning closer to the camera. “No, minion, you gotta kill ‘em! Aw, dang it!” He cut the connection, the TV shutting off in a flash of static.

“God dammit- All right, let’s just find what we’re looking for and get out of here.” Coon said with a small sigh, and the group split up again. Mysterion went off on his own this time, looking around curiously and checking to see if he could get into any of the storage areas. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Umbra walking into the shadows and disappearing just as smoothly, and Mysterion could only guess he was checking out the storage areas they couldn’t get into.

“Here kitty, kityy.” Toolshed called out as Mysterion passed him to check a new sector of the U-Stor-It. He frowned as he came across a dead-end, blocking off most of the lot.

“Mwahahaha! You’ll never make it through my impenetrable fortess!” Professor Chaos exclaimed through the TVs, the connection cutting out again the moment he finished speaking. Mysterion frowned, wondering what to do next. They couldn’t really get past this, could they?

_BANG!_

Mysterion leapt away from the storage unit he had been standing in front of, getting into a defensive position almost immediately. Following the bang came duller, less threatening thuds, the door shaking slightly as everything fell against it.

“… _Ow_ ….” Came softly from the other side. Mysterion stared, momentarily glancing at Toolshed to see if he had noticed, well, _any_ of the interaction.

Mysterion walked back over to the storage unit, leaning against the door. “…Umbra?” He asked softly, voice just above a whisper.

For a few minutes, there was only silence. Mysterion was just beginning to worry when there came a small, embarrassed, “You heard that?”

Mysterion scoffed softly. “You’re lucky I’m the only one who _did_. Do you need help?”

Umbra groaned, the door shaking as Umbra banged his head into it. “No, I can get out of this in a few seconds; just- just give me a minute to figure out where the _hell_ I am.”

Mysterion frowned at his words, wondering if he hit his head in the loud fall. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine… just a miscalculation.”

“What _kind_ of miscalculation?”

“One you don’t need to know about.” Umbra hissed, warning Mysterion to continue asking questions.

“Okay, well, hurry and get out here! We might need your help getting further.”

Umbra groaned in frustration- the sound coming very close to a whine at the thought of carrying everyone across the blockade. Mysterion felt bad for asking him to even _think_ about it as he looked for a way over the barricade, but sometimes, you had to do what you had to do. Unless Captain Diabetes had been able to restock his insulin in order to use his Diabetic Rage, it might be their only-

“Oh, wait. Nevermind, I see some boxes over there we can use.”

Mysterion smirked slightly, wanting to hear Umbra’s retort, but he was only met with silence.

“What are you talking to, Mysterion?” Toolshed asked, and Mysterion cleared his throat.

“Oh, no one. Just thinking out loud.” He said calmly, as Coon friends- minus Umbra- came around the corner.

“Hey, Captain Diabetes, did you restock your insulin from your last mission?” Fastpass asked when he noticed the blockade, and Captain Diabetes nodded.

“You betcha!” Captain Diabetes exclaimed, grinning. Super Craig looked around, his impassive look turning subtly into a frown.

“Hey, where’s Umbra?”

Mysterion bit the inside of his cheek, unsure of what to say in order to cover for Umbra. Thankfully, he didn’t have to.

“Up here!” Umbra exclaimed, followed by an unfamiliar shout as he appeared on the roof of the storage units he had slammed into the door of. He was holding another teen in front of him, the Chaos minion’s arms twisted around behind his back. “We’re being stalked.” Umbra clarified, waiting until the minion called “uncle” before he let him go and hopped down.

Mysterion frowned, watching Umbra closely. Was he seriously okay after whatever happened in the storage unit? It seemed highly unlikely, if you were to ask Mysterion.

“Anyway, let’s go.”

“Why’d you let him go?!” Coon whined.

Umbra shrugged. “He said he wouldn’t follow us anymore. No point in trying to get him off the roof with me.” He smiled at Captain Diabetes, motioning towards the blockade. “Shall we?”

“Sure thing!” Captain Diabetes said cheerfully, drinking a carton of apple juice before tearing the structure from the ground and knocking it over. The group went around it, frowning at the structure as it continued to block their path.

“If we all work together, we can get it out of the way.” Umbra said with a small sigh, walking over to the structure and bending down. Mysterion moved to join him, looking at the others to help. When everyone had their own part to lift, they did it on the count of three.

Mysterion caught Umbra wincing slightly out of the corner of his eye, Umbra’s hands shifting at the last moment so that it was the back of his hand pushing against the metal. The weight Mysterion was lifting suddenly lessened, and it became easier to push and toss the obstacle out of their way entirely.

“Muaha! You’ll never make it through my impenetrable for- What? Shoot you made it through that part?” Professor Chaos’ TVs flickered again, and Umbra chuckled softly under his breath, rubbing his shoulder as everyone made their way to the entrance to Professor Chaos’ fortress.

It was time to face Chaos.


	17. Danger Unknown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So before today's chapter begins, I would love to highlight two people who made me fan art and made my staying up crazy late last night completely worth it! THANK YOU AGAIN!!!!
> 
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> [Umbra as South Park](https://twitter.com/PimpURCabbages/status/939693041954279424)
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> [Umbra Looking Over Shoulder](https://twitter.com/Shadokipa/status/939766144071753729)
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> \----
> 
> Also, SORRY THIS WAS LATE!!! Trying to find info for this chapter has been near impossible, and then my friend called asking for help with her story for her English final and that swept up the _entire_ afternoon but I refused to just publish what I had and I am so so so so SO sorry this was late!

“I see you~” Professor Chaos sang, the five TVs around the main storage unit coming to life. “You didn’t _really_ think I wouldn’t have a backup plan, did you? Do you not comprehend how many minions twenty thousand dollars can buy?”

“Butters will you just go home, we’re trying to find a missing cat!”

“That’s the point, Human Kite.” Umbra sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “He’s here to _keep us_ from finding the cats.”

“Butters, actually, if somebody gave you a bunch of money by law that money belongs to our franchise! All of us!” Coon explained, just bordering on the edge of patient and angry. Umbra wasn’t sure if that was technically true, seeing as they had no franchise to speak of yet and someone had asked only for Professor Chaos’ help.  


Why they would ask a 16 year old boy playing superheroes to keep out actual, possible bad guys or policemen, Umbra really didn’t want to know.

“Oh no, you see, more cash mean… more minions! Let’s see how you handle this!”

Umbra tensed as multiple storage units slip open, Chaos minions pouring from them like water and surround the group of heroes. Mysterion let out a short curse underneath his breath as Professor Chaos laughed, and then the fight began.

Coon let out a battle cry as he lunged for the nearest human minion, the others following his lead and beginning to attack. Umbra decided the best opponent to attack first would be the dogs- if they got them out of the way, there’d be far less damage if they were to get attacked.

Nodding to himself, Umbra darted forward, leaping over the dog and turning on his heel to face it. “Here, doggy! Here boy!” He whistled a calling, bending down and clapping in front of him. “Here boy!” The dog tilted its head at him curiously, a confused growl escaping it before it started running over to Umbra. At that, Umbra turned and ran around the corner the heroes had just come from, making sure the dog continued to follow him. When the dog rounded the corner Umbra stopped, reaching out with his shadow to grab the dog’s.

“Okay, buddy, this is going to be a little weird but you’ll be home safe and sound in a second.” Umbra explained, pulling the dog close and checking the tags on its collar for its address. Finding one, he signed in relief and stretched the dog’s shadow up to form a wall, grabbing the dog’s collar and walking into the shadows with it. The dog growled, trying to snap at his hand. Umbra gave the dog a stern look. “ _No_. Bad dog.”

The dog growled, but before anything else could be said or done, Umbra was walking out of the shadows near the dog’s house. “Go home!” Umbra scolded, before quickly getting back to the U-Stor-It. His energy was a little drained from bringing the dog through the shadows, but he knew he was still perfectly fine for the rest of the night, as long as he didn’t have to do the same with any people or something like twenty dogs.

“Umbra! We could use some help over here!” Toolshed shouted, and Umbra rushed back out into the thick of the fit, seeing the other dogs tied up for now and a couple of the minions collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

“I was only gone for like a second!” Umbra gasped, and Fastpass grinned proudly as he fought off another minion with Super Craig.

“Whatever, just help!”

Umbra rolled his eyes, but did as Toolshed shouted and went over to help him fend off three of the minions. He swiped the feet out from under the one trying to attack Toolshed head on, rolling out of the way so the minion didn’t fall on top of him and kicking him in the side in the process.

The minion growled, getting back up and launching himself at Umbra. Umbra quickly moved out of the way, getting back onto his feet as the minion zeroed in on him.

The fight went on for a few minutes until only the heroes were left standing- but the chance to catch their breath didn’t last long.

“With all my new funding, I found an even greater source of minions- all who are willing to work for extremely reasonable salaries!”

Umbra groaned in frustration as even more chaos minions appeared, although this time they were adults. He was ready to stop fighting for the moment- his shoulder was starting to throb uncomfortably from the crash and tumble he had in someone’s storage compartment and he was pretty sure there was going to be the biggest bruise ever on his shoulder blade for the next _month_.

He didn’t realize shadow traveling in a storage facility would be so pain inducing.

Umbra ducked as a minion swung at him, grabbing his arm and twisting it around to his back. “Incoming!” Mysterion shouted, and Umbra leapt out of the way just as another minion came flying through the air towards them.

The two minions crashed into each other and tumbled into the wall, groaning in pain and clearly dizzy. Umbra laughed without meaning to, giving Mysterion a thumbs up from across the battlefield. Mysterion smirked in return before continuing to fight another minion, and Umbra returned to the fight as well.

\---

“Is that the last of them?” Toolshed asked, wiping away a small bit of blood dripping from his nose. He frowned at it distastefully as the others checked their injuries as well. Umbra sighed and rotated his shoulder, wincing as he felt it pop multiple times. That wasn’t good.

“God only knows.” Coon huffed as he wiped sweat from his brow. “You guys take the alley over there; Super Craig and I are hitting the rooftops!” The group nodded, splitting up once again.

Umbra sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he started towards the storage unit Professor Chaos’ TVs were attached to. Was this anything important?

“Ah, damn. I thought this was the main part of his lair.” Mysterion huffed as Umbra lifted the door and they came across a regular storage room. Umbra nodded, frowning as he looked around.

“It _is_ odd that he had so many TVs attached to this one unit…” He agreed, frowning at the simple space. “Why draw our attention to it if--“

The sound of a laser activating had Umbra yelping and stumbling back as a glowing red laser slammed into the ground right where his feet were mere seconds before. Smoke rose from the ground, a hole forming where the laser attacked.

“Oh, holy hell!” Umbra hissed, “That does _not_ have Butters written all over it.”

“Agreed,” Mysterion leapt up onto the truck in the corner, making Umbra frown.

“Wait, what are you—“ Mysterion hopped down on the other side, the laser whirring as it started to aim for Mysterion. Umbra felt his heart leap into his throat as Mysterion made a break for the switch as the laser crept even closer. “Mysterion!”

“I’m fine!” Mysterion said, slamming his hand on the off switch. The laser powered down, and Umbra slumped in relief, placing a hand on his chest as his heart tried to escape.

“What the hell, man.’ He whispered, staring at Mysterion. “What the hell.”

“Hey, I’m fine, aren’t I?” Mysterion huffed. “Besides, we have more important things to worry about.”

“Uh, no, I really don’t…” Umbra trailed off as he went through the gap leading further into the room, eyes widening at the large collection of guns hanging on the walls.

“Yeah, like I said. Something _way_ more important.”

“Are—Are we sure that this isn’t the storage unit for one of those hunters…?”

“No, they wouldn’t place a laser set to kill in their storage unit.” Mysterion said, crouching down and inspecting the large missile stored in a glass case. “Jesus, this thing could wipe out the entire town if it was active.”

“Are we sure it’s not?” Umbra asked softly, frowning at the range of guns and knives on the wall. “Still, this looks _a lot_ like those two guys’ place.”

“It looks like it’s been out of commission for years.” Mysterion explained, standing up and going over to the boarded up section of the wall before starting to kick it in. “I’ve lived around those guys all my life. They may be crazy but they’d never do something like this.” He grunted kicking at the metal repeatedly. It screeched under the pressure.

Umbra hummed thoughtfully, nearly jumping at the sound of the metal breaking apart and allowing Mysterion access to whatever lay beyond. “I’ll check this out. Find out what’s underneath that tarp.”

“Got it.” Umbra said softly, watching as Mysterion ducked into the hole before turning and walking over to the covered car. Idly, he wondered if he’d even find anything without setting an alarm off.

Umbra frowned as he stepped closer to the truck, a sudden chill running up his spine and making him tense. Something….

Something felt wrong.

Wisps of shadows slipped out from under the tarp, limply falling to the floor like bird feathers instead of fading in the air or curling back towards the main body of shadows. Umbra had never seen anything like it before.

Slowly, Umbra pressed his back against the wall with guns and knives as close as he dared, reaching out to grab the tarp. When he got a good hold on it he yanked as hard as he could, the single box on top of the car rattling violently as the tarp was yanked from under it.

Almost immediately, Umbra was hit by a strong, bitter smell that nearly made him gag and his knees buckle. He placed a hand over his mouth, feeling nausea rise at the back of his throat as the sharp, earthy scent choked him, coating his tongue and nearly _seeping_ into his pores.

He dropped to his hands and knees, gasping and coughing as he tried to get the stench out of his mouth; nearly spitting as he tried to get something that wasn’t even there _out_. It was counterproductive, though. He was unable to close his mouth, each heavy inhale just coating the entirety of his mouth and throat with the bitter scent.

Tears sprung to his eyes as he fought to get proper levels of oxygen, his lungs feeling almost like they were on fire from whatever was in the back of the truck. He coughed harshly, something constricting his throat almost painfully as his arms began to shake.

Another harsh cough, and his arms gave out, catching himself on his elbows. He coughed again, spitting out saliva in a failed attempt to clear his mouth of the bitter odor. His head spun.

“M… Mys…” He coughed, panic and confusion clawing at him as he reached a shaking hand up to his throat only to feel his skin and the fabric of his suit. He didn’t know what was happening, he couldn’t get his legs to work and he was genuinely afraid right now. He fumbled with the zipper of his suit, yanking it down to his collar bone in an attempt to lessen the pressure. It didn’t work. “Mysterion!” He shouted, nearly croaking out the other hero’s name.

Mysterion nearly came barreling back through the hole in the wall, eyes widening as he took in the sight in front of him. Without missing a beat he ran over and pulled Umbra to his feet. Umbra coughed, nearly gagging again as he breathed in through his mouth and consequentially gulped down an even stronger wave of the bitter scent.

“What happened?!” Mysterion asked, voice tinged with panic as he ran out of the storage unit with Umbra stumbling beside him. He couldn’t get his legs to work properly, hands gripping Mysterion’s arms and suit tightly just to stay upright.

The moment they were clear of the stench, Umbra sucked in the largest breath he could, letting go of Mysterion and dropping to the ground. Mysterion kept a hand on his waist, the other on his back as Umbra heaved for air.

“Are you allergic to whatever that smell is?” Mysterion asked when Umbra’s throat wasn’t constricted and he was left panting instead of gasping desperately for air.

“ _No_!” He nearly shouted, snapping his head up to look at Mysterion with wide eyes, still panting heavily. “N-No…” He repeated, far less sure this time as he tried to think about what allergic reactions were like and let his head hang back down as he tried to catch his breath and stop his eyes from watering. “No, I… I don’t think so. My parents…. they said I wasn’t allergic to anything.”

Mysterion frowned, nodding for a second as he looked around. “Okay. Stay here for a few seconds.” He said softly, whirling around and rushing back into the storage unit.

“Hey, Mysterion, Umbra!” Umbra looked up and over, sitting back on his heels as Fastpass and Toolshed came over to him.

“Dude, what are you guys doing over here?” Toolshed asked, frowning slightly as he took in how Umbra was sitting on the ground and Mysterion was just coming out of the storage unit while pocketing something.

“Sorry, got sidetracked.” Umbra sniffled, unrolling the sleeve of his jacket and scrubbing his face with it.

“Did something happen?” Fastpass asked, and Umbra shook his head.

“No, it’s nothing. Just found some weird stuff.”

“We’ll be right there, guys. You can head back and keep Coon from blowing up when we get there, alright?”

Toolshed’s frown deepened, “Hey, we heard Umbra shout. If something happened-“ He broke off as he caught Mysterion’s eye, and Umbra was immensely glad they apparently communicated to drop the topic. “Alright,” Toolshed sighed, “We’ll head back. Hurry though, Coon is ready to murder you, Mysterion.”

“Right.” Mysterion shooed them off, and before Fastpass could say anything else, Toolshed was pulling him away. When the two were gone again, Mysterion sighed and looked over at Umbra. “Are you allergic to garlic?”

“There was _garlic_ in that mess?” Umbra asked, disbelieving. He liked the smell of garlic, and there was most _definitely_ no garlic in that awful stench.

Mysterion nodded, patting the small pouch on his utility belt. “I grabbed a sample of the plants that were in the car. I’ll have the others run diagnostics back at base, but from what I can tell, it’s some sort of mint or weed variety.”

“I’m not allergic to garlic and you keep that plant away from me, okay?” Umbra huffed, standing up on shaky legs. “Was there anything else in there?”

“I didn’t have time to check.” Mysterion admitted grufly. “We’ll check here again later, make sure nothing’s changed. I _can_ tell you that that tarp wasn’t a regular tarp.”

Umbra stared, wondering just what gave it away. “Gee, y’think?” He hissed, and Mysterion glowered at him, growling.

“Hey, I’m just stating what I know.”

“Can we just go now?” Umbra sighed, turning and walking in the direction Toolshed and Fastpass had gone. He stumbled a bit, his head throbbing as a headache started to form. He felt exhausted.

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay?” Mysterion asked, an edge of worried in his voice as he rushed to catch up to him and grabbed for Umbra’s waist again. Umbra grumbled something even he couldn’t figure out under his breath, pushing Mysterion’s hand away.

“I’m _fine_.”

Mysterion held up his hands in surrender, not looking convinced but not saying anything else or grabbing Umbra again, either.

They came across a wall that blocked their path, and Mysterion offered his hand to Umbra. “I can get us over this with no problem.” He said softly, and Umbra chuckled, patting his shoulder.

“Thanks sweetheart, but I can get over by myself.”

Mysterion stared at him, still doubtful even though Umbra was already feeling miles better than he had been in the storage room. Finally, he sighed, shaking his head slightly. “If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.” Umbra said confidently, smirking at him as he placed a hand on his hip and cocked it to the side. “Now then, are you going to go first, or will I?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone knows what motherwort smells like please please PLEASE let me know!! I could really use the information, along with any other smells/ herbs that keep evil spirits/ demons away! I've spent over 4 hours looking and haven't found any helpful information on smells so far -_-'' just that they are pungent and keep spirits away.  
> I need to find time to try and get to an herbal shop and actually find this stuff out but right now I'm not able too, and this is vital information that I need!


	18. The Subtle, Yet Still Totally Obvious, Change

Okay, so, maybe Umbra should have checked his powers before insisting he was fine.

He grabbed for the shadows of the storage units again, trying to catch them like he usually did, but his hands only caught small strands of it, tearing it apart. Worry coiled in his gut as he tried to grab them again, the same thing happening. “Shit….” He whispered, trying a fifth and final time before giving up. Why were his powers suddenly broken?

“Do I need to come back over and grab you?” Mysterion asked cockily, and Umbra growled in frustration.

“No! Just give me a minute!” Umbra snapped back, not in the mood for Mysterion’s jaunts right now. His head hurt, he was pretty sure he could still faintly smell that _stupid_ whatever it was, and now his powers weren’t working.

“Alright, fine… I can work with this.” He mumbled, taking a couple long strides back from the wall. “Mysterion will be surprised, but I can cover for it easily.” He took a deep breath, stepping back a bit further before running straight at the wall. He jumped so he could grab the ledge, the shoulder he had hurt from his fall twinging uncomfortably before he was pushing off the wall with his feet to kick himself over. He landed on the other side gracefully, already striding ahead so as not to look at Mysterion’s expression.

Super Craig was just up ahead, staring at a tinfoil covered truck parked against the wall. He glanced over at Umbra and Mysterion as they walked over, motioning to the truck. “Why would Chaos want to wrap an entire truck in aluminum foil?”

“That’s not the problem!”

The three heroes looked up at the sound of a new voice, and Umbra smiled a little as Call Girl appeared on the roof of the Storage units next to them.

“Is aluminum foil _really_ what you guys are concerned with?”

“I mean, it’s a perfectly valid question.” Umbra said softly under his breath as the rest of Coon and Friends as well as Toolshed came over.

“Who the _fuck_ is that?” Coon asked, glaring at the group before looking at Call Girl.

“You were right about the Italian restaurant, Umbra. The owner is part of a new crime syndicate.” Call Girl continued, unfazed, and Umbra sighed softly, biting his lip. That wasn’t good.

“Who the _fuck_ , is _that_?” Coon asked again, pointing at Call Girl angrily and glaring at the others.

“I have no idea.” Toolshed answered, and Umbra made to respond just so they could get back on topic when Coon started shouting again.

“Well she’s _not_ in the union! Excuse me, are you on Coonstragram?!”

“There’s someone new in town who’s bringing all the crime families together.” Call Girl continued, and Mysterion stepped forward.

“Whatever else you know shouldn’t be shared here! It’s far too dangerous to keep talking about it right now!” Mysterion told her sternly, and Umbra nodded.

“Call Girl-“

“You know her?!”

Umbra was quiet for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying his best not to sigh. “Call Girl, love, the information you have is _incredibly_ vital, but right now, we can’t let the syndicate know we have information. They could be anywhere, and we could have just given away part of a lead.”

Call Girl gave another firm nod, reaching into a pouch as she continued to speak. “You’re right. Check out storage facility 50-D, Umbra, and take this with you.” She pulled out a phone, tossing it down to Umbra. He caught it, fumbling only slightly. “Call me if you need me. I think you’re gonna need all the help you can get.”

Her piece said, Call Girl turned, stepping off the ledge and starting to walk away. Umbra sighed, looking at the phone in his hands. “Oh, and Umbra?”

Umbra looked up again, giving Call Girl his attention, she had come back over, looking far too solemn for his liking. “Be wary of the motherwort.”

\-----

As Call Girl disappeared, Mysterion felt his stomach coil with nervousness as he thought to the small plant sample in one of the pouches on his utility belt. He had made sure to recover the truck with the tarp and put the plant in a film container to make sure it’s smell couldn’t bother Umbra anymore while they continued on this mission, but was there even _more_ of it throughout the storage facility?

The possibility of Umbra collapsing like that again genuinely scared Mysterion- and not much could do that, now. He had looked like he was choking, or even hacking up a lung and failing, and he had looked so, so _scared_. He’d never seen such a severe reaction to a smell before; the pungent, bitter odor only having made Mysterion a bit dizzy at best.

It was…. It was like it was leeching Umbra’s strength from him, almost.

Mysterion wondered if anything else had happened because of the plant.

“Come on, let’s just find Scrambles and be done.” Toolshed said with a small sigh. Everyone was already growing tired of searching as they spread out to look for the cat, but Mysterion was only able to focus on Umbra.

The shadow manipulator was staring at the ground again, lost in thought. His eyes were still red from the plant, and the way he was holding himself hinted that he might be injured. Mysterion bit the inside of his cheek to keep from frowning. Whatever was going on with this crime syndicate _wasn’t_ good.

“Hey, don’t think about it too hard right now.” Mysterion said, walking past him and lightly tapping his foot with his own. “Focus on the mission at hand. The sooner we finish it the sooner we can figure out just what’s going on.”

“Right.” Umbra sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Right, okay.” He shook his head, clearing it. “On the bright side, we now have a name to that plant. Bad side? There’s more of it hidden around here and-“ Umbra laughed bitterly here, grabbing his hair and starting to pace. “- guess what? My ability isn’t working right. Shit, I am so _screwed_!”

Mysterion’s eyes widened and he rushed forward, grabbing Umbra’s shoulders. “Your _ability_ was affected?!”

Umbra winced, hissing slightly in pain. Mysterion quickly let go, hoping it hadn’t looked too fast. “Yeah, now let go.” Umbra pulled himself away from grasp, starting towards the storage unit they needed to go to. “Say _nothing_ to the others, you hear me?”

“Will you be alright if we have to fight?”

“I’ll have to be.” Umbra groaned, kicking angrily at the air. “Damn it! Tonight can’t get any worse!”

“Don’t say that- something worse will most definitely happen now.” Mysterion deadpanned, letting the other hero take out his frustrations now so that he could keep the others from realizing something was wrong.

Umbra looked like he wanted to scream as he muttered to himself, hands clenching and unclenching as he occasionally stomped his feet or kicked at the air. Mysterion, as much as he wanted to get under Umbra’s skin and frustrate him, decided he really _didn’t_ like seeing him like this. It felt so incredibly out of character for Umbra to get this angry- or maybe it was fear that was getting to him.

Sure, he’d seen Umbra get mad at Coon before, but he was still enjoying the mission and the company and it was far calmer and more collected than the anger Umbra was showing now. He didn’t look happy. He didn’t look excited, or serious, or anything he usually did on a mission.

He looked like he wanted to run.

“It’s going to be okay.”

The words were out of his mouth before Mysterion could stop them, making Umbra freeze in place and stare at him with wide eyes. Mysterion blushed from embarrassment, clearing his throat slightly as he realized he _had_ to continue now. “I mean… All of us are going into this without knowing anything. Most of them don’t even have powers or realize the gravity of the situation. You just found your kryptonite, and it’s natural to be freaked. Just give yourself a few moments to collect your head, and… and maybe everything will be alright after that.”

The silence between the heroes stretched on, and Mysterion couldn’t stop himself from breaking character as he pulled his hood further down to try and hide the embarrassment he could _feel_ radiating off of himself. What the hell was he _saying_?! To his _rival_ , no less!?

After what felt like forever, Umbra sighed, then laughed.

“Aw~ You care about me!” Umbra purred in that _obnoxiously_ smug tone that had Mysterion relaxing almost immediately even as he glared at the grinning hero.

“Shut up!” Mysterion growled. “I don’t care!”

“Uh-huh, just keep telling yourself that, sweetheart!” There was the smirk Mysterion knew and lo- was infuriated by. He was infuriated by it.

“Umbra!”

The shadow manipulator laughed, darting off as Mysterion started running for him, and some of the unease in his stomach uncoiled. Even if it hadn’t been for more that 20 minutes, seeing Umbra so freaked out was uncomfortable and it was nice having his usual self back again.

This was how Umbra should be.

\----

“Do you guys see Scrambles here?” Coon asked as everyone walked into storage facility 50-D.

Mysterion rolled his eyes, “Yeah, he’s right over there in that wide open space as far as the eye can see- NO we don’t see him! We all literally walked into the room and there’s still some shit here that we can’t see behind!” He snapped, and Coon growled at him.

“Easy boys, no fighting.” Umbra said calmly, rolling his eyes as well. “We need to-“

Umbra jumped as red legos started pouring out of a container behind him, flooding the entrance to the facility and officially declaring it lava. “Oh shit, lava!” Toolshed announced right before an evil laugh started to fill the air. Mysterion tensed, ready for a fight.

“Will you stop fucking around, Chaos?!” Coon shouted angrily.

“Not Professor Chaos- his partner in crime!” The group turned around to face the speaker, finding a pre-teen with poofy red hair and dressed almost entirely in tinfoil. “General Disarray!”

“Careful, he’s a ginge.” Coon warned, and Mysterion could see Umbra frown from the corner of his eye.

“Do you know what Professor Chaos has planned for this city?!” General Disarray asked, and Toolshed stepped forward.

“Look, kid, you and Butters are taking this way too far.”

“Yeah, it’s time to teach you a lesson!” Coon agreed.

General Disarray hopped down from the platform he was on, a controller in his hand as he smirked at the group. “That won’t be as easy as you think.” He stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth as he looked up at whatever the controller was for and Mysterion stepped back.

“Cartman, watch out!” Mosquito said as Coon dove forward to get out of the way of the “lava”.

“Minions! Vamanos!”

The group was quick to find out that the minions weren’t the problem, or even General Disarray himself. No, the problem was that stupid dispenser of his.

Mysterion leapt into the air as a minion went charging towards him, landing on the minion’s back and pushing off it to attack another one by kicking them in the face. Toolshed and Human Kite were tag-teaming a group of minions not too far away, Mosquito and Super Craig doing much the same thing. Everyone else was fighting by themselves, holding their own against the minions while everyone attempted to dodge the piles of lava that covered nearly every inch of the floor.

“Careful on your left!” Umbra shouted, and Mysterion quickly moved further to his right as Umbra _threw_ a minion across the room into a small pile of boxes and lava galore. He didn’t miss how Umbra winced, looking a little apologetic even as he turned to start fighting another opponent.

Mysterion noticed another minion coming up behind Umbra and he darted forward, punching the man in his stomach before sweeping his feet out from under him and throwing him into a pile of lava nearby.

“Coon, watch out!” Fastpass shouted as the dispenser started to pout lava. Once again, Coon was able to just barely escape the onslaught, an angry growl escaping him.

“Will somebody just steal that stupid controller?!” He snapped, and Mysterion gasped slightly as he got an idea.

“That’s it!” He whirled to Umbra, “Umbra, try using your ability again! If it’s back to normal you can sneak over and steal the controller, right?” He just barely caught Umbra nodding before he forced back into the fight, a minion swinging a wide punch at him, Mysterion ducked. “Then give it a try! I’ll cover you!”

“Let’s hope this works!” Umbra exclaimed as he darted past Mysterion and towards the large crates against the wall behind them.

Mysterion heard Umbra’s footfalls suddenly stop, but there was no crash that indicated he didn’t make it into the shadows, so he could only hope that it worked.


	19. Drama Makes For Fun!

There were two ways this plan of Mysterion’s could go badly; A) Umbra could just smack right into the wall, or B) he could end up falling straight through the shadows into the wrong area again.

Thankfully, neither of those happened.

The shadow space of this storage facility, unlike the units outside, was blissfully more black than white, which meant far less chances of falling through one of the shadows into an area he hadn’t wanted to go.

He looked around, trying to find General Disarray’s shadow. If he was lucky, he could just pop out of his shadow, grab the controller from his hand, and either fall right back in or get away from Disarray as fast as he could without being noticed.

If he was unlucky, well, then he’d have to get ready for a fight.

“Ah, there it is!” Ashton ran towards General Disarray’s shadow, jumping so he’d land on top of his shadow and slip back into the light. He grabbed General disarray’s controlled as he landed on his feet, letting them touch the ground for barely a moment before leaping back and out of the way.

“Coon, catch!” Ashton tossed the controller as General Disarray let out a cry of alarm, ducking just in time as the Mecha Minion swung at him.

“Got it!” Coon caught the device before slamming it on the ground. The device shattered, and Umbra cursed softly as the dispenser crashed into the bags of legos on the upper level, destroying the walkway and sending lava everywhere. He rushed out of the way, stepping back out of the carnage.

“I think that’s the last of them!” Toolshed panted, pocketing his power drill.

“Don’t count on it. We should make a… wait, wait, where’s Super Craig?!” Coon gasped as he looked to the side, and Umbra looked over to see that Super Craig was caught on the other side of the lava, completely cut off from escaping. “Oh my god, Super Craig!”

Cooon and the others ran to the edge of the lava. “Super Craig, just hold tight!”

“Shit! There’s no air compressor here! There’s no way I can clear that lava!” Toolshed shouted, panicked, as he looked around wildly for a generator.

“Hold on, Super Craig. We’re gonna find something to plug Toolshed’s sandblaster into.”

“You and I both know I’m already dead.” Super Craig said, accepting of the impending death. Umbra was actually a little surprised Craig was taking it so seriously.

“No, Super Craig! We’re gonna find a way to save you!” Coon whirled around to face the others. “Do something Toolshed!”

“There’s nothing here!” Toolshed cried out, motioning to the area around them. “My sandblaster needs compressed air to work!”

“Get the one from the entrance!” Mosquito suggested.

Fastpass shook his head. “The gates slammed and locked shut, remember?”

“It’s okay, guys… We all knew when we signed on to Coon and Friends that it might end like this.” Super Craig said calmly, voice only a little sad as he looked down at the lava.

“Stay calm, Super Craig! We’re gonna get you home.” Coon said quickly, and Craig looked around at the lava, shaking his head resolutely.

“Sorry Coon, but it looks like this was a one-way trip.”

“No, Super Craig, NO!” Coon cried out as Fastpass pulled him back, away from the lava.

“Oh, what am I gonna tell Tweek?” Mosquito said softly, and Umbra looked around for any remaining shadows on their side of the lava. He cursed when he noticed that the shadows they _did_ have were too bright thanks to the lighting to properly use as travel, mind racing to find a solution.

Movement in the corner of this eye pulled Umbra’s attention from the shadows, and his eyes widened when he caught sight of Mysterion moving to go after Super Craig. “Whoa whoa whoa!” He hissed quietly, grabbing Mysterion by his cape and yanking him even further out of view of the others. “ _What_ are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” Mysterion snapped just as quietly, reaching up and readjusting his cape. “I’m going to get him.”

“Everywhere you’d need to go is covered in _lava_.” Umbra said, motioning to the scene they were currently hiding from. “By game standards, it’s _suicide_.”

“I’m _immortal_.” Mysterion stated, “It won’t kill me!”

“Maybe not but it’ll still hurt like a bitch.” Umbra nearly snarled, “We can figure out a way that _won’t_ involve someone getting hurt or killed, you hear me?”

“How? You haven’t gone to get him yet and the ones who have the ability to get him _can’t actually fly_.”

“I haven’t gone to get him yet because the shadows aren’t-“ Umbra’s eyes widened as he realized something. “Wait a second, that’s it! Lift your cape!”

A beat of silence.

“….What?” Mysterion asked, thrown off by the sudden change in attitude.

Umbra nodded quickly, grinning now as he nearly bounced to Mysterion’s side and grabbed a corner of his cape and started lifting it up.

“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?!”

“Hold up the corner of your cape, man! The shadows caused by it give me an access point!”

Umbra’s grin widened as realization entered Mysterion’s eyes, and the caped hero finally did as told and lifted the edge of the cape. It took all Umbra had not to cheer. “Okay, now stay there for a few seconds after I go through- it need to be my return point, too.”

“Right.” Mysterion nodded, staying still as Umbra backed up a couple of steps before launching himself into the shadows of the cape. Umbra tucked and rolled as he entered the shadows, already knowing where his exit was as he hopped to his feet and ran for it. He barreled through, nearly crashing into the other half of the wreck in his excitement.

He laughed for a moment before going around the broken TV, grinning at Super Craig.

“Umbra?! How’d you get over there?!” Coon gasped, and Umbra winked, holding a finger to his lips.

“Come on, I can get us both out of here.” He motioned towards the broken TV before grabbing Super Craig’s wrist.

“I’m about to experience whatever Captain Diabetes did, aren’t I?” Super Craig asked when Umbra started towards the shadows, and he nodded.

“Yep. Don’t worry, it won’t take long, I’ve already got an exit. Just don’t let go of my hand okay?”

“You have more of a hold on me, but okay.” Craig agreed as Umbra pulled him into the shadows. Umbra laughed as he led Craig through, shrugging slightly.

“You know, I bet you could have just jumped over it, Super Craig.”

“I like being dramatic sometimes. When Tweek isn’t around, cause I don’t want to make him panic.”

Umbra nodded again, heading towards Mysterion’s shadow. “I can understand that.” He led Craig through the shadow of Mysterion’s cloak, and the moment they were both out Mysterion dropped his cape.

“Nice to see you’re safe and sound, Super Craig.” Mysterion said calmly, and Super Craig flipped him off, a small smirk on his face. Mysterion rolled his eyes and Umbra giggled, shaking his head.

“You guys are dorks.” He commented, turning around on his heel and heading towards the others. “Anyway, shall we go show them the good news?”

\-----

“Super Craig, you’re okay!” Mosquito cheered when the Super Craig, Umbra, and Mysterion came around the box.

“How’d you do that?!” Toolshed gasped, and Umbra shrugged casually.

“Some serious parkour.” Umbra said after a couple of minutes, a small chuckle in his voice. He motioned to the ladders that led out of the room. “Anyway, shall we go?”

“Yeah, this way.” Human Kite said calmly, pointing over his shoulder to the ladders. “Mysterion, you come too. You might come in handy.”

“I ‘might’ come in handy? Really dude?” Mysterion scoffed, rolling his eyes but following him anyway. Umbra laughed, shaking his head. Really, these kids should just make up already if they were going to tease and taunt like normal.

Umbra followed after Mysterion and Human Kite after making sure there wasn’t anything he didn’t need to check for or find in the room, and soon the three heroes were on the roof of the building. “…Okay, so… how are we gonna do this?”

\---

When everyone was out of the storage facility and General Disarray was tied up and placed near the entrance so they could get him home before morning, everyone made their way towards the storage unit Call Girl had told them about.

“My Coon senses are detecting the sounds of cats inside.” Coon said as he pressed his ear against the side of the unit.

“Alright, here we go.” Umbra said softly, stepping forward and opening the unit’s door.

“Hey, what the fuck?!” Umbra jumped back at the sight of men in the storage unit, getting into a defensive stance.

Well, they definitely found the cats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter, but I rather enjoy where it ends!


	20. Fired Fever

“Who is that?!” One of the men in the storage unit asked.

The one across from him gasped, placing a hand to his mouth. “Oh my god! That’s the vigilante!”

“That’s right!” Coon said, turning to the side and placing his hands on his hips. “The Coon!”

“They’re talking about Umbra, dumbass.” Mysterion muttered under his breath, snickering when the men in the storage unit said, “And some little fat kid, too!”

“This cat! Where is it?” Coon asked after a beat, pulling out the missing poster for Scrambles.

The first guy who spoke pointed at the poster, “That’s some high-grade shit there. Cat like that would go to the boss man himself.”

“Who _is_ your boss?” Mysterion asked, and the fourth man glared at his companion.

“You idiot! You don’t talk about him! Now we gotta kill these shits!”

“Have fun trying!” Umbra taunted as the four men charged at the group, spinning out of the way and throwing a punch at the man who went after him. Coon went after the second man and Mysterion was forced to fight off the first man, Toolshed and Super Craig moving to help him. Human Kite, Fastpass, and Captain Diabetes took on the final man while Mosquito went to help Umbra.

Mysterion quickly twisted away from the man, bringing his leg up and kicking him in the chest. He knocked him back into Super Craig, who grabbed his collar and punched him square in the face before throwing him back further.

The man knocked into one of the many barrels in the storage unit, and before anyone could react with more than a scream, it blew up.

“Holy shit!”

“No one touch the barrels!”

“What the _fuck_ is in them?!”

“Just focus on the fight right now!” Mysterion said quickly, wincing as another barrel blew up. He turned to face the destruction, growling when he saw Coon smirking and kicking an already half-charred man into another barrel. Umbra yelped; he and Mosquito just barely avoiding a piece of flying shrapnel. “Dammit, Coon! Are you _trying_ to kill us?!”

“Looks like you could use some help here!”

“Call Girl!” Umbra gasped, punching the man closest to him. Mysterion didn’t miss the sharp wince he did, and he was certain now that Umbra was hurt. Whether it was bad or not, he wasn’t sure.

“Mysterion, 11o’clock!” Mysterion looked over his shoulder at Call Girl’s words, eyes widening and ducking the second before the first man to get thrown into a barrel’s fist could make contact with his face. He spun the rest of the way around before pushing himself up from the ground, palm of his hand stretched out as he swung it up and into the man’s nose. He grinned as the man crashed back down into the ground, blood pouring from his nostrils.

“Cartman if you throw him onto more barrels I-“ Super Craig’s words were cut off by the room shaking as another barrel exploded, being replaced by a threatening growl.

“Oh, fuck!”

“Alright, alright!” The only man left standing yelped, holding his hands up in surrender. “Look, it ain’t us, okay?! The big man has all the crime families working together: The Italians, the Russians, the Sixth Graders, they all work for him! We just put the cat urine in the drugs and alcohol.”

“Who _is_ the big man?” Call Girl asked, and when the man looked like he wasn’t going to talk, Mysterion made a show of cracking his knuckles just behind her.

The man sat up even straighter, voice edging on panic as he continued to speak, “He don’t even do it for the _money_ , man! It’s like- it’s like he _wants_ more crime on the streets.”

“Wow! That sounds spooky.” Fastpass gasped.

“You don’t even _know_ spooky, man! We got to do this if they tell us, don’t you get it!?” Mysterion’s eyes widened as the man stood suddenly, scrambling for the nearest cat, “We’re already dead for tellin’ you!”

“Wait, don’t do that!” Mysterion shouted, moving to run forward as the man sprayed himself in the face with cat urine before collapsing to the ground. The man knocked over chemicals on the counter, more of the storage unit catching fire. The heroes behind Mysterion all cursed, rushing out of the room. “Shit!”

He looked around wildly, rushing over to the nearest cats in the room. If they couldn’t save all of them, the least Mysterion could do was get these few home, and if he died in the process, well…

That was how it was going to be, today.

He grabbed the three cats closest to him, wondering if it was possible to grab any more before the unit blew. Just as he was thinking about going for the others he felt hands grab him.

“Mysterion we need to go!” Umbra shouted over the roar of the fire, tugging even harder on Mysterion’s arm.

“We can’t save the rest of the cats, we need to get out of here!” Call Girl exclaimed, tugging on his other arm even as Mysterion stopped fighting and turned to run with them. They managed to get out of the blast radius right as the storage unit exploded, a foul smelling cloud of smoke and flames filling the air.

As the smoke cleared up enough for everyone to see, Mysterion sighed, setting the cats down and removing their restraints and the funnels attached to them. The gray cat in front of him, no older than a year, if he had to guess, meowed tearfully as he removed the restraints, eyes wide and fearful as its hair stood on end. “Shh, it’s okay.” He whispered, petting the cat. “You’ll be home in no time. Umbra, hey, can you-“

Mysterion looked up from checking the cat for any injuries, question freezing on the tip of his tongue as he looked at Umbra. He was panting and sweating almost violently for what they had been doing, eyes wide as he placed his hands on his knees; openly gasping as he tried to catch his breath.

“Umbra?” Mysterion felt the same worry as before curl up and settle in the pit of his stomach again, causing him to sniff the air, trying to see if that same gross scent was there.

All he could smell was the smoke from that fire; a different kind of pungent, bitter smell, and burning flesh.

“Umbra, are you okay?” Human Kite asked, frowning. Everyone else had already caught their breath from the fights, now looking on with worry in their eyes- even Coon, oddly enough.

Umbra coughed once, a harsh sound that made even Mysterion’s chest rattle and pass a faint taste of blood across his tongue, and gave the group a thumb’s up. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.” He croaked, straightening up again and almost shuddering as he tried to take deep breaths as subtly as he could. “I’m good. It’s- it’s just the smoke.”

Umbra’s eyes looked almost fevered, oddly bright in a different way than the faint glow around his mask and exhaustion clear as day. He didn’t look okay in the slightest.

Mysterion frowned, taking another deep breath of the smoke. His eyes widened as he caught a small bit of the same scent cloaking the unit from before, along with burnt garlic and who knows what else was making Umbra react so badly. He fought down the urge to grab Umbra’s hand and yank him even further away, instead picking up the three cats still loitering around him and standing back up.

“You don’t look okay.” Mosquito said, frowning. “I think you should go home, dude.”

“How?” Umbra coughed, rubbing the back of his neck slightly. “The only ways out are currently a wall of flames and Professor Chaos’ headquarters.”

“Still, man, you look really out of it.” Super Craig said in return. “Are you sure you can keep going?”

“Maybe you should just wait out the smoke!” Captain Diabetes suggested, “Then you can head home no problems!”

Umbra smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes as he coughed again and shook his head. “Let’s go- we’ve just got Professor Chaos and his plans left, then we can go home and sleep.” He said softly, motioning towards the building tucked into the back of the rows of units they were at. Mysterion frowned, really feeling like Umbra _shouldn’t_ go after Professor Chaos with them. What if there was more of that stuff in his headquarters? He couldn’t really argue it though- there was a chance it had cleaner air than out here, and Umbra needed to get away from the smoke even if he was trying not to admit it.

Mysterion sighed, looking down at the cats in his arms like they might have the answer. They stared up at him with similar looks, one of them meowing and scrabbling to get a better hold on his arms. Eventually he sighed. “Umbra’s right. We’ve got to keep going.”

Coon quickly spat out something similar, making most of the group roll their eyes, but the group slowly let out varying sounds of agreement and made their way over to Professor Chaos’ lair where Call Girl hacked the lock and opened it with ease. Carefully, everyone walked into the room, Mysterion and Umbra trailing in after the others. Mysterion frowned as they walked in.

There was a heavy, oppressive air in the building, almost feeling like it was saturated into the walls, and Mysterion could feel his head starting to ache from the feeling. No one else seemed to really notice it, though.

Mysterion took a deep breath, pushing away his unease. “Can you get these guys back home?” Mysterion asked, motioning with his head to the cats still clinging to his arms. Umbra gulped slightly, chest heaving noticeably as he tried to take another deep breath.

“Something’s wrong…” Umbra mumbled instead of an answer, tensing up beside him. “Something doesn’t feel right here.”

“Is it more of that stuff?” Mysterion asked, and Umbra quickly shook his head, cheeks turning flushed as he swayed on his feet.

“N-No... No, I don’t…” Mysterion’s heart slammed into his throat when he realized that Umbra was everything _but_ okay, the other hero looking like he was about two seconds away from collapsing even as the others got rid of those ball launchers and took care of the chaos minions in the room.

“Hey, what’s up with you guys?” Toolshed asked, frowning as he walked over. “You’re acting weird.”

“What, you think you’re too _good_ to help us now?” Coon asked, and Mysterion was about to retort when Umbra suddenly let out a soft exhale, legs giving out beneath him.

“Umbra!”

“Shit!” Mysterion scrambled to catch him, the cat’s letting out panicked, angry meows at suddenly being let go as they landed on their feet. Mysterion caught Umbra before he hit the ground, holding him against him.

[ ](http://ibb.co/jgoRX6)

“Umbra?” Mysterion gave him a tiny shake, his stomach flipping when he got no response. “Umbra?” He said a little louder, chills running down his spine as the hand lightly touching his waist suddenly felt damp.

When had he gotten hurt enough to _bleed_?

“Is he okay?!” Call Girl gasped, although she had quickly turned her attention to the surrounding area, eyes scanning the room.

“Douchebag’s probably just faking it, guys!” Coon said, completely uninterested as he walked over to the ladder and debated how to clear away the lava.

“Cartman, he just collapsed!”

“What the fuck is wrong with you!?”

While Coon, Human Kite, and Toolshed started arguing, Mysterion quickly yanked off one of his gloves, pushing Umbra’s bangs back and placing the ungloved hand on his forehead while the other slipped down to Umbra’s wrist, checking for a pulse. He mentally sighed when he felt a fairly strong pulse, but the relief was very quickly washed away from just how _hot_ Umbra was. “Oh, fuck,” He cursed softly, looking up at the others a second later, “He’s burning up.”

“Mysterion you need to get him out of here.” Call Girl exclaimed, rushing back over from wherever she had run off to. She leaned in close, her long black hair spilling over her shoulder as she whispered in his ear. At one time, Mysterion would have considered trying to flirt with her, even during this kind of situation. Now, though, he was genuinely too worried to care.

“I can’t explain but this room is teeming with all kinds of things bad for _both of you_.” She whispered. “And that’s not including the smoke outside.”

“Fastpass would-“

“No- you can use the rooftops, he can’t. Now no more arguing, go! Get him out of here!” Call Girl motioned out of the storage facility. “Toolshed and I can take things from here.”

Mysterion debated arguing for all of a second before he looked at the cats sitting in front of him. “Okay, you three are coming with- get on Umbra’s stomach and hold tight to his belt.” He said with a small huff as he shifted his hold to hook an arm under Umbra’s knees.

The cats, thankfully, seemed to understand and lightly hopped onto Umbra’s stomach, settling there with little to no problems. Mysterion stood back up, looking at the others. “I’m taking Umbra back home- you guys can deal with the rest, right?”

Toolshed stopped arguing then, eyes wide. “Wait, what’s going on, Mysterion? Do you know what’s going on?”

“I’ll explain later.” Mysterion quickly turned and ran for the exit, making his way onto the roofs without jostling Umbra or the cats too much.

\----

Umbra’s breath puffed out into the air in clouds of steam, his body feeling more and more like a furnace the longer they stayed out in the cold winter air. He had chilled a bit and the flush had faded slightly about halfway between the U-Stor-It and Ashton’s house, but he was still too hot for Mysterion’s liking, and showed no sign of waking up soon.

He debated simply slipping through Umbra’s bedroom window as he arrived at his house, but decided that probably wouldn’t go over well with his parents so he landed lightly in front of Umbra’s door, crouching and setting Umbra’s feet down so he could knock on the door and let the cats get off. All three climbed off, but none of them actually made to leave.

Mysterion supposed that after what they’d been through, that was a fair assessment on their part.

He banged on the door, ringing the doorbell like no tomorrow. “Mr. and Mrs. Fairweather!” He shouted, nearly tearing off his hood. “Mr. and Mrs. Fairweather, wake up!”

Mysterion sighed in relief as an upstairs light came on, continuing to pound on the door as hard as he could.

“What is it, this time of night?!” Umbra’s father growled out on the other side of the door, the sound of locks being undone until the door was pulled open. “You better-“ Mr. Fairweather’s voice cut off as he took in the scene before him, his eyes growing wide. “What happened?!” He gasped, before shaking his head and ushering Mysterion and the cats inside. Mr. Fairweather leaned a bit further out the door, looking both ways before he quickly closed the door and locked it up again.

“Bring him up to his room, we’ll talk there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What can I say?
> 
> Ye asked, and ye have received *whistles innocently*  
> 


	21. The First Late Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! The lovely PandaLostInTheStars wrote a little fic snippet for Ashton and Kenny! Read it here: [Moonlight: by PandaLostInTheStars](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13012935)

Mysterion did as told, carrying Umbra up to his room and gently setting him down on his bed. Mr. Fairweather had continued down the hall towards the bathroom, voices coming from the parents’ bedroom before Mrs. Fairweather was rushing in, nearly causing the door to slam into the wall.

She looked around almost wildly, like it took her a few times to notice that Mysterion and Umbra were right there in front of her by the bed. She gasped when she saw them, “Boys!”

Mrs. Fairweather ran over to them, glancing momentarily at Umbra before looking at Mysterion. She reached up, cupping his face in his hands and turning it side to side. She leaned in close, sniffing him slightly, before reeling back with a look of disgust on her face. “I knew it! You guys _reek_! Kenny McCormick, you go take a shower and scrub yourself head to toe with the shampoos and soaps under the sink, you hear me? And get that sample of Motherwort in your pocket _downstairs_ , this instant! None of that crap is allowed to stay near _either_ of you as far as Dio and I are concerned.”

Mysterion nodded the best he could with his face still caught in her hold, not quite sure what was going on but also a little offended that she thought he stunk. Although he had to agreed with her as well, because he was pretty sure that gross smoke clung to his clothes and hair like a second skin.

“Okay, I got the first aid kit and grabbed the other stuff. Is it-?”

“Both kids are coated in about 6 different smells- all bad.” Mrs. Fairweather explained finally letting go of Mysterion’s face and striding towards Mr.Fairweather, who had reappeared in the doorway. She paused when one of the cats by Mysterion’s feet meowed, looking down as they padded over to her. Her eyes widened, reaching down and picking on up. She sniffed, nose crinkling in disgust.

“Kenny!” She snapped, and Mysterion immediately straightened his posture as she turned back to him. “Don’t keep standing there! Go take that shower, and clean these cats up, too! Same soaps!”

“Y-Yes ma’am!” Kenny said, dropping the Mysterion act completely as he knelt down and collected the cats into his arms. Mrs. Fairweather strode over to Ashton’s dresser, pulling open the bottom drawer before throwing a pair of pants and a shirt and him.

“Put those on after your shower, and the towels are across from the shower in the middle cupboard. _Do not_ touch that outfit you’re currently wearing after you’ve gotten clean. We’ll wash it before you go- no arguments!” Kenny nodded, quickly catching the clothes and slipping past Mr. Fairweather to head for the bathroom.

“Okay, okay… So we need to burn St. John’s Wort long enough to get his fever down and then _immediately_ air out the room, then…”

Kenny closed the bathroom door, confusion flitting through him for a second before shaking his head. He trusted them to know what to do- besides, if he didn’t wash himself and the cats he was afraid to know what Mrs. Fairweather would do.

He looked down at the cats, sighing softly. “Well,” He began, “I hope you guys are okay with a short bath.”

\---

Kenny admittedly felt _miles_ better after showering.

He had no idea why, considering he hadn’t even felt tired or exhausted before, but the headache and dizziness that had been steadily forming since the explosion were completely gone now, and the cats seemed far happier now, too.

The cat Kenny had originally thought was just a dust-covered white cat turned out to be a dark-gray tabby with very pretty silver markings, blue eyes, and, as he waddled around the bathtub meowing his heart out, Kenny noticed it had a limp. Even with all the meowing, he was probably the only one who was _happy_ to be bathed. Kenny liked him.

The second cat was a short-haired black kitten (no older than six months, Kenny figured) with an extra long fang and a temper to match its “Black Cats are Bad Luck” stereotype. For a few moments, Kenny had been certain the kitten was going to end up killing him while he was trying to bathe him, and his arms definitely showed the proof of that. Still, after the cat was brushed and dried, it stuck just as close as the gray tabby did to Kenny.

The third cat was somewhere in the middle of the two, bathing wise. The brown long-haired, 8 month old maine coon didn’t like the water very much at all, but didn’t growl in warning every time Kenny so much as twitched a finger and stayed still long enough to get clean and dry. What he _did_ like, Kenny found out with a smile, was having all the knots in his fur brushed out.

All three padded along beside him now, tumbling over each other like younger kittens as he walked the short distance to Ashton’s room, and Kenny was so distracted by them he almost didn’t catch the harsh whispers on the other side of the door.

“And you’re _sure_ these won’t hurt him too?” Mr. Fairweather asked frantically, and Kenny could almost picture him pacing back and forth on the other side of the door. Mrs. Fairweather sighed tiredly, although she sounded just as nervous.

“As sure as I can be- they worked on me when I had my powers, we can only hope they work on him, too.” Another sigh, followed by a frustrated growl and the faint sound of a match being struck. Shortly after, Kenny smelled some type of incense or oil being burned. “I thought we had made sure he was safe from all of that!”

Mr. Fairweather sighed, “I guess we hadn’t.” He said softly, “But now we know for sure.”

Kenny felt unease coil in his gut again, and he knocked at the door before opening it. A bunch of smells filled his nose, and Kenny noticed small dishes with all kinds of herbs and oils or incense stick burning, scattered around the room, although some already looked like they had been put out by hand instead of just burning out. Ashton’s bedroom was opened just enough for fresh air to circulate through the room without chilling it too much or cutting off the burning scents.

Ashton lay on his bed, still unconscious but his mask, jacket and body suit removed. He had been dressed in a pair of pajama bottoms, his waist wrapped tightly with bandages that were only a tiny bit red. Seeing so little blood on the bandages made Kenny’s unease fade a bit. “Is he gonna be okay?” Kenny asked as he stepped into the room.

The room was odd, feeling less suffocating than it had before even with all the smells and tendrils of smoke in the air.

“Kenny! You and the kits already smell dozens of times better!” Mrs. Fairweather said cheerfully, standing up from where she had been lighting another small dish of oil. She walked over, crouching down to pick up one of the cats as she spoke. “Ashton will be just fine, sweet- oh! You’ve gotten nice and soft, haven’t you!” She cooed as she picked up the maine coon, smiling. “You four look much better, too.” She commented, reaching up and patting his cheek. “You especially look better.”

“…Thank you?”

Mrs. Fairweather hummed, sighing softly as she set the main coon on Ashton’s bed. “Ashton will be right as rain in a couple days.” He shouldn’t go to school tomorrow, though.”

“Um… what happened, exactly?” Kenny asked after a moment, as Ashton’s father went around and put out a number of the smells.

“Uh…” Mrs. Fairweather exchanged an unsure glance with her husband, clasping her hands together in front of herself. Kenny knelt down as the gray tabby pawed at his pants, picking it up as the black cat jumped up onto Ashton’s bed and curled up on his chest. He set the tabby on the bed as well, smiling and holding in a laugh at the sight.

If he hadn’t seen what led to his state, Kenny would have thought Ashton was just sleeping peacefully unaware of what was happening.

“We _should_ tell him if it’s affected him too, Reya.” Mr.Fairweather said softly, “That way _both_ of them stay safe.”

Mrs. Fairweather sighed, running a hand through her hair and lightly stomping her foot on the ground a couple of times as she thought about it. “You make _such_ a good point and I hate it.” She mumbled, before looking at Kenny again. “Kenny, sweetie, um… y’see…” She paused, trying to find a way to breach whatever she wanted to say. “What’s you big thing, in this game?” She asked instead.

Kenny frowned, a little confused. “Um… I’m immortal.”

Mrs. Fairweather’s eyes grew wide, and she met her husband’s eyes once again before she looked at Kenny. “Kenny, I have another question. “ She said, kneeling next to Kenny and taking his hand in hers. “And I need you to be 100% truthful.”

“Okay….? Why?”

“If you really are immortal, then this all makes a whole lot more sense and we may have just found out something _incredibly_ important.” Mrs. Fairweather smiled kindly, grey eyes twinkling with laughter.

Kenny’s eyes widened. “Wait, you- you believe me?”

“Honey, how do you think Ashton got his abilities?” Mrs. Fairweather asked, and Kenny shrugged because he honestly didn’t know. He just… assumed it was by cult ritual, like him.

“He got it because we’re a _family_ of Supernaturals.” Mr. Fairweather explained, grinning slightly as he walked over to them now that the final scent was out.

Kenny blinked at the adults with wide eyes, confused and hopeful all at once. “Super…. Naturals?” Ashton’s parents exchanged another glance, before they looked at him with matching smiles on their faces.

\-----

_“Ashton Fairweather… why do you continue to resist? We could be on the same side. Join forces with me, and you could rule the world. Just get me out of here, and you can rule with this once again!” The naked, crazy, government man said,_

_“Why would I do that?!” Ashton snarled, “You tried to kidnap me!”_

_“You underestimate the character of the fighters of Zaron!” Stan declared, grinning widely. “What binds us is more than that relic!”_

_“And you’ve failed to recognize the character of our alliance!” Kyle said just as confidently, grinning as he stepped forward._

_“Yes,” Cartman agreed, taking a step forward. “And that friendship is more important to all of us- even more than the Stick of Truth.”_

_Ashton smiled, looking over to Kenny. He wasn’t going to join the bad side, right? He was his friend- the closest friend he’d made in South Park, actually._

_Betrayal clawed at his throat as Princess Kenny walked forward as regally as ever, time almost seeming to slow down as she took the Stick of Truth from the government official’s hand and turned to face them. “…Kenny..?” He croaked, his voice sounding far too broken even to his own ears._

_“I’m sorry, my dear necromancer. But I must do this.” Princess Kenny replied, voice soft as he stood straight beside the man, tilting his chin up just slightly enough for it to hurt. “It’s the only way.”_

_“But we promised-“_

_“I can’t wait any longer! I’ve already waited 10 years for the chance to reclaim what is rightfully mine!”_

_\---_

_“Princess, please!” Ashton gasped as Kenny pulled a small vial from his pocket, “… No, don’t…”_

_Kenny uncorked the vial, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He opened them again slowly, meeting Ashton’s eyes and giving him a sad smile._

_“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ashton.”_

_“Kenny, don’t!!!” Ashton begged, but it was too late; Kenny put the vial to his lips, and downed the virus in one gulp._

_In seconds, Princess Kenny became a zombie._

_\-----_

**_I’ll see you tomorrow, Ashton._ **

_Ashton laughed weakly, staring down at his blood covered hands. “No you won’t…” He whispered, a sob building up in his throat as his gaze focused on the corpse just past his hands._

_Because Kenny was dead._

Ashton gasped, eyes flying open as his body jerked awake. He looked around wildly, confused about where he was, and started sitting up when a sharp pain lanced up his side as something jumped off his chest. He groaned softly in pain, placing his hand over where he remembered getting sliced by shrapnel.

“…Ashton?” A sleepy voice mumbled, and Ashton gasped slightly when he saw Kenny sit up from the floor, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“K…. Kenny?” He asked softly, wondering if he was seeing things. Kenny hummed sleepily in response.

“You feelin’ okay now?” Kenny asked instead, standing up only to sit back down next to Ashton on the bed before reaching down and picking up a cat. Ashton quickly realized that there were two more laying down sprawled on the bed next to him, and his head spun.

Ashton took in the giant t-shirt and plaid pajama pants Kenny wore that were most definitely Ashton’s, how he placed the cat in his lap and he looked almost ethereal in the moonlight streaming in from the window. Kenny’s hair was shining, freshly washed and looking incredibly fluffy as the ends curled slightly and one side stuck up more than the other, and his dark blue eyes nearly looked like black stars. Ineloquently, Ashton said first thing that popped into his head. “Am I dreaming?”

Kenny chuckled, smiling at Ashton. “What? No, dude. You’re back home. You passed out ‘cause o’ all that weird magical shit.”

“I… what?” Ashton asked, bewildered and genuinely confused, “What happened to Professor Chaos and the others? How did we get to my place?”

It took Kenny a few minutes to register what Ashton was asking due to still being sleepy, and when he registered it his eyes widened. “Oh, right. Uhh, the motherwort and all those weird smells and feelings that were getting to you? They’re like….” He trailed off, waving his hands in the air like that would conjour up whatever he was looking for. “Enchantments? They’re bad for you though- your mom knows more than I do.

“You passed out when we got inside Professor Chaos’ lair, um, apparently they had evaporated vinegar or had some type of ring of something around the floor and it was sort of like a final kick to your system after the burned mandrake, motherwort, St. John’s Wort, Myrrh, and, uh….” Kenny paused, trying to think of the last thing that had apparently been in the smoke they inhaled, “Fumitory! The last thing was fumitory!”

“Okay….”

“Anyway, you passed out and I brought you back home ‘cause I figured, you know, your parents would know what was going on. Turns out your mom’s kryptonite is yours, too.”

Ashton frowned, carefully sitting up the rest of the way. He hissed lowly from the small pricks of pain running up and down his side, earning a small frown from Kenny. “Don’t move, Ashton.”

“You seem oddly calm about all this.” Asthton chuckled, shaking the remnants of the dream out of his head. Kenny dying was just a nightmare- he was right here talking to him, after all. Kenny shrugged, petting the gray tabby in his lap.

“It’s… it’s weird. I was pretty freaked out at first but like…. It doesn’t do _shit_ to be freaked out. You just have to keep moving, y’know? After your parents explained it made a lot of the nerves ease up, y’know?” He was quiet for a while, looking like he was debating something. The black cat snuggling into Ashton’s hip shifted around, stretching itself out in a wide arch before falling back asleep.

Kenny gasped softly, as if remembering something, “Oh right!” Ashton tensed, biting back a gasp as Kenny was suddenly _incredibly_ close. He blushed as Kenny looked at him easily, a hand lifting up in the corner of his vision.

Ashton’s heart started pounding, confused and embarrassed and yet completely unable to break away from Kenny’s steady gaze. He flinched as Kenny’s hand brushed his skin, pushing his bangs up and out of the way as he murmured a small apology. Just as Ashton was beginning to feel heat flood his cheeks the intense look on Kenny’s face morphed into a smile. “Your fever is almost completely gone.” He hummed, leaning back and dropping his hand.

Ashton exhaled as calmly as he could, not having realized he had been holding his breath, and nodded slowly. “What time is it, anyway?”

“Uh….” Kenny leaned to the side a bit, squinting at Ashton’s phone. “Looked like it’s about 3 in the morning.”

“….Are you gonna leave?”

Kenny chuckled, shaking his head. “No. Your parents demanded I stay until morning. They haven’t washed out hero outfits yet, so…”

“Why’d they wash them?”

“The smoke was clinging to them like a second skin.” Kenny sighed, flopping back onto Ashton’s legs lightly. “Can I stay here for the next two hours? I’m fucking _tired_ , man.”

Ashton scoffed slightly, lightly kicking his leg out to jostle Kenny. “If you want my legs digging into your back, sure.” Kenny groaned in frustration, glaring slightly at Ashton. He rolled his eyes in response, motioning with his head that Kenny should come up here, instead. “Come on, just get up here and squeeze between this cat and the wall.”

Kenny was quiet for a few moments, and Ashton wondered if he had said something wrong before Kenny was clambering over, making Ashton laugh as he nearly slipped trying to avoid crushing a cat’s tail with his hand and let out a hissed string of curses.

Kenny flopped down rather ungracefully, one hand pushing Ashton lightly down with him. Ashton tried not to think of how his heart leapt from the action.

“Okay. Sleepy time now, we’ve had a busy night.” Kenny mumbled into the sheets, facedown beside the pillow. Ashton lifted his head, shifting the pillow over just enough that they’d both be able to use it.

It took a little a few minutes, but soon Ashton had fallen back to sleep with the sound of Kenny snoring softly beside him.


	22. Current Update

So you guys can yell at me later if you like but Dec. 15th's chapter isn't coming until tomorrow ^^'

 

Long story short this chapter is taking a while to write because I don't really know how to write it, and I am _incredibly_ invested in Jacksepticeye's livestream-

 

Of which is for charity! Donate [here for Save the Children](https://tiltify.com/@jackcharity2017/jacksepticeyes-holiday-special)! Every bit helps: $3 can feed a family of 5 bread rations for a day, and if they reach 100 thousand dollars they'll be matched dollar to dollar by an anonymous donor!

 

I'm sorry there's no chapter today, but I got distracted and now I have to finish work so I can give you guys a GOOD chapter instead of one that doesn't flow well in the slightest.

 

Anyway, donate if you can, and I'll also give you a chapter tomorrow (or later, depending on your time zone)

 

ALSO!!! Until then, you can read [this beautiful songfic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13016388) revolving around Ashton and Kenny written by the lovely PandaLostInTheStars!


	23. McCormick Kids and Fairweathers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I just realized that "Ohana means family. Family means no one gets forgotten or left behind" could make for some very good Kenny angst.
> 
> Also, I just realized Kenny is the only one in his family to have blond hair and blue eyes???? Do you think his mom originally had blonde hair or do you think it's a part of his curse for whatever reason?

The next time Ashton woke up, his room had turned a faint blue-grey from the early morning light outside his window, he was tucked into and cuddling into something incredibly warm, one cat was draped across his neck, and the gray tabby was squeezed right in between Ashton and whatever he was pressed against and licking his nose with a small, sandpaper tongue. He tried to move his head, and found the third cat was laying on his hair, too.

The thing he was cuddling shifted around, and Ashton’s thoughts ground to a halt when he realized just what he was cuddling into.

“…Ashton?” Kenny mumbled, lifting a hand from Ashton’s waist and sleepily rubbing his eyes. Ashton hummed softly in acknowledgment, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to keep staring at the far-too-close cat head as it licked his face.

Kenny laughed, sitting up next to him. The gray tabby let out an affronted meow and toppled over, allowing Ashton to open his eyes and look up at his friend. He really hoped he wasn’t blushing.

Kenny grinned, looking at the tabby and chuckling as it rolled over and swatted at him, meowing. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you needed me to stay upright.” He apologized sincerely to the cat. The way the cat seemed to huff and flick his tail while turning his nose up at Kenny made Ashton snort, which only made Kenny roll his eyes in turn.

“Do you want help or not?” He asked, making Ashton laugh.

“Sorry, sorry. Please help.”

Kenny hummed thoughtfully, taping his chin as he smirked playfully down at Ashton. “Hm…. I don’t know…. What’s the magic word?”

“Kenny, please!” Ashton laughed again, lightly swatting at Kenny’s chest. “I wanna sit up and can’t do it with cats on me!”

Someone knocked on his door, opening it a few moments later, “Kenny, you’re-“

Ashton’s mom stifled a small gasp, giggles escaping her a few moments later, “Oh my.”

“Hi mom,” Ashton said, lifting a hand as giving a short wave while Kenny tried to hold in a laugh and snickered instead.

His mom walked over, leaning a little over Ashton so she could see his face. She smiled at him, laughter in her eyes. Ashton pouted. “Need some help, sweetie?”

“Yes please!”

With a short nod, Ashton’s mom picked up the cat on his neck with a small grunt, lifting him into the air. “Well now, aren’t you a heavy one today! Did you get into something you shouldn’t last night?”

Ashton’s stomach twisted a little her words, really hoping that had been the case. His mom shooed the last cat off Ashton’s hair and he sat up, giving Kenny a weak, playful glare in response to him not having done _anything_ to actually help Ashton get the cats off him. He tried to tell himself it wasn’t so his mom wouldn’t see the worry on his face.

“Wait, are you sure you should be sitting up?” Kenny asked worriedly, and Ashton’s mom hummed, setting the maine coon down again.

“Ashy, remove the bandages please. You should be just about healed all the way, if everything worked like it should have.”

“Okay.” Ashton did as told, removing the bandages that had been wrapped around his waist. He frowned at the cut on his side, fairly sure it hadn’t looked like that last night when he got hit by a piece of barrel after one had exploded. It looked a lot shallower than it should have, too.

Ashton’s mom crouched down, her chilled fingers lightly brushing against his side and making him flinch a little. She gave him a small, apologetic smile, but then she was back to looking at the wound, “Ah, good!” She said after a few minutes, “From here on out that’s gonna be healing naturally, so try not to make it bleed again.”

“Reya! Our guest is waiting!” Ashton’s father called from downstairs, and Reya gasped, standing up quickly.

“Oh, that’s right!” She turned to Kenny, motioning towards the door. “Your brother and sister are here, Kenny.”

“They are?” Kenny asked, slightly surprised, and at Reya’s nod he shot to his feet. All three cats startled, jumping to their feet in seconds and nearly hissing. “Thank you for letting me know, Mrs. Fairweather!” He said, giving Ashton a small smile before darting downstairs. Ashton’s mom giggled, shaking her head good-naturedly as the gray tabby went running after him.

“I don’t know why he’s rushing,” She commented, turning her head back to Ashton and offering him her hand. “We offered them to stay for breakfast.”

“Who knows? Maybe he’s just plain excited to see them.” Ashton asked, taking her hand and wobbling as he stood up. His head spun slightly from the change, his grip on his mom’s hands tightening a small bit to keep from falling over.

His mom nodded, only letting go when they were both certain Ashton wasn’t going to fall over. “By the way, sweetie, you’re not going to school today. You’re going to spend the day resting and recuperating after you were assaulted by those smells.”

Ashton frowned, not liking that he couldn’t go to school and see the others, but at the same time, incredibly glad he didn’t have to go. The weekend hasn’t been getting here fast enough and he really could use a day to get back to 100% after last night. Even if everything from the end was spotty at best in his memory. “About the motherwort and that other stuff… what exactly, um…?”

His mom smiled sheepishly, twirling a lock of hair around her fingers as she rocked back and forth on her heels. Kenny passed by the room again, heading straight for the bathroom with a plastic bag in his hands. “Kenny, sweetie, don’t forget to brush your hair!” She called when she noticed him pass by.

“Yes ma’am!” Kenny said quickly, and Ashton cleared his throat to bring his mother back to the current situation. Last night had been _terrifying,_ and he would really like to know just what was going on. Why had he reacted so violently to all of it, when the others just barely bat an eye. Ashton’s mom sighed, looking down again.

“Well, the simple explanation is that it was my Kryptonite when I had my powers. We thought you would only get your father’s, which is bright light and no access to any shadows, but apparently we were wrong. The _complex_ answer, I think should wait until after breakfast.” Without saying another word, Ashton’s mom turned and left the room with a small skip in her step and the maine coon following her closely.

“Wait, but-“ Ashton’s quiet beg cut off as he reached his doorway, a small rock settling itself in his stomach and making his chest ache a little when he saw his mom was already down the stairs. He felt a little left in the dark, and it kind of hurt that his mom didn’t want to tell him what was going on right now.

He sighed softly, shaking his head. His parents would tell him what was going on- they told Kenny, after all, and he really had no reason to know except that he brought Ashton home and had seen him like that. He wasn’t actually affected by it.

Ashton bit his lip, walking back into his room and heading to his dresser to grab a shirt to put on. He walked out of his room the same time Kenny came out of the bathroom dressed in his usual parka and old worn jeans and boots, the clothes he had borrowed folded neatly in his hands. Kenny smiled when he saw Ashton, and he smiled back.

“So what should I do with these?”

Ashton hummed, walking over to him and taking the clothes from his hands. “I got them, you just head down to talk with Karen and Kevin.”

Kenny hummed in thought, looking at Ashton curiously, before grinning and shaking his head. “Nope! I think I’ll just stick with you.”

Ashton chuckled, nodding and heading back into his room. “If that’s what you want.” He said simply, walking back into his room and dropping the dirty clothes in his hamper. A small meow caught Ashton’s attention and he looked down, chuckling when he saw the gray tabby. “He likes you.”

Kenny looked down, laughing. “I like him too; he’s cute.” He chuckled, crouching down to pet him. He motioned towards Ashton’s legs, and Ashton looked down, eyes widening when he noticed the black kitten sitting beside him. “You’ve got a little follower yourself.”

Ashton chuckled, crouching down and picking up the cat. Kenny’s jaw dropped when he saw how easily the black cat climbed into his arms, and Ashton laughed. “What?”

“He’s a little demon and he just _walked into your arms_?!”

Ashton laughed, looking down at the kitten in his arms. “Really? He seems pretty tame.”

“He nearly shredded my arms last night when I had to bathe him.”

“Guess he likes me more.” Ashton teased, snickering as the cat meowed in agreement and Kenny let out an affronted gasp.

“How dare you, you little beast! I saved you from death!”

The cat in Ashton’s arms flicked his tail, turning his face up at Kenny. Ashton did laugh this time as Kenny pouted, bending down to pick up the gray tabby. “Well at least _someone_ appreciates me.” Kenny huffed dramatically, petting the tabby as he started to make his way downstairs. Ashton followed close behind.

“So Kevin and Karen are here?” He asked, and Kenny nodded.

“I asked Kevin to bring my bag and clothes, and Karen didn’t want to stay home alone with our parents if they woke up, so she came with.”

Ashton hummed, nodding. “That’s nice. I haven’t met your brother yet, have I?”

“Nope.”

“Ashton!” A small voice shouted out happily, and Ashton smiled as Karen came running out of the kitchen, her long brown hair pulled back into pigtails and bouncing along behind her. “Are you felling okay? Why aren’t you coming with us to school?”

“I’m feeling much better now that I’ve seen you, Karen.” Ashton chuckled, patting her head lightly. Karen huffed, frowning at him and looking like she was about to retort before noticing the kitten in his arms. Her eyes widened and she gasped.

“How many cats do you have?!”

Kenny chuckled softly, patting Karen’s head lightly as he went into the kitchen. “Well, currently, he doesn’t _really_ have any.”

“If they’re all strays, we can take them in.” Ashton’s father said from beside the stove as Ashton and Karen went into the kitchen as well. Ashton’s mom and someone who looked a lot like a slightly older cross between Kenny and Karen were talking animatedly about something at the table. Ashton had a feeling they were Kevin.

Karen gasped at Dio’s words, looking at Kenny and Kevin with wide eyes. “If that’s true can we keep one?!”

Kenny and Kevin exchanged a look with each other that didn’t go unnoticed by Ashton or his mom.

“If you need a place to keep him, we’d be glad to house him. We’d be taking in the other two, anyway.” Ashton’s mom said softly, smiling reassuringly at Kevin when his jaw dropped.

“First things first, we need to make sure they aren’t anyone’s cats.” Ashton’s dad sighed softly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I also don’t particularly trust the vet in town- at least not right now, with all the cats getting kidnapped.” He looked over his shoulder at Kevin. “Do you happen to know if the vet in the next town over is any good?”

Kevin shook his head, looking apologetic. “I’m afraid I haven’t left the town before, Mr. Fairweather. I imagine they’re better, though. Most adults who come through town like yerself usually don’ have the same level o’ stupidity those raised here do. We’re a special breed o’ stupid.” He explained, voice turning a little bitter at the end, and Ashton frowned.

“Well, all of your mothers don’t seem that bad.” Ashton’s mom said after a moment. “A little rough around the edges, sure, but all mothers are.”

“And you’re an adult yourself, aren’t ya?” Ashton’s dad asked, cracking some eggs into a pan. “You seem pretty dang smart to me. You said you used to be a mechanic, right?”

“The best mechanic in town!” Karen said quickly, holding her arms out wide. “Kevin and Kenny both know how to fix any car!”

Ashton chuckled as both boys’ faces turned bright red, and he patted Kenny on the shoulder as Kevin hissed, “Karen! Don’t say stuff like that!”

Karen pouted, slouching a little. “Why not? It’s true, isn’t it? You figured out how to fix up all those broken down cars behind out house and taught Kenny how to, too! You could open up your own garage, Kevin!”

Kevin was blushing even darker now, groaning and hiding his face in his hands. “Karen, _please_.”

Ashton’s mother laughed softly. “Sounds to me like you’re pretty smart,” She said softly, and Kevin sunk down in his seat in embarrassment before looking up again and clearing his throat a little.

“Anyway,” He began, standing up and walking over to Ashton. The black kitten hissed a bit before hoping out of Ashton’s arms, landing gracefully. “My name’s Kevin, I’m Kenny’s older brother. You’re Ashton?” Kevin asked, holding out a hand to shake.

Ashton smiled, nodding and taking Kevin’s hand in his. “Yep! Nice to meet you, Kevin.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ashton. Kenny loves talking about you.”

“Kevin!” Kenny gasped, sounding absolutely mortified as Kevin let an easy smirk slip onto his face. Ashton had to bite back another laugh.

“Kenny talks about you, too. All good things.”

Kevin scoffed, rolling his eyes as another light blush covered his cheeks and he looked away in embarrassment. “I ain’t the best big brother in the world, but thanks for tryin’.”

Ashton shook his head, still smiling. “I wasn’t lying. He really does say only good things.”

Kevin’s blush only got worse, and Ashton was beginning to feel a little bad for making him feel so embarrassed. Thankfully, it was easily stopped by Ashton’s dad already starting to ask a different question for Kevin to answer.

The families talked for a while longer and enjoyed having breakfast together before Kenny and Karen had to get going for school and Kevin for work.

When they were out the door with promises from Kenny to stop by after school, Ashton closed the door and looked at his parents, questions at the tip of his tongue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sighs* I..... am not happy with this chapter. Not really, at least. It was hard to write and was pretty much all filler. The next chapter is going to be a lot better though, I promise. More civilian life is incoming!


	24. Both Boys Learn Something New

“Okay…. Asher- no, Ashton, the thing is…. Well, uh….”

Ashton frowned at his parents, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the door. His parents looked incredibly uncomfortable, trying to figure out how to say what they wanted to say. Every second longer his parents stalled and stumbled, the more frustrated and hurt he was getting. They told Kenny the truth, right? Why couldn’t he know?

Eventually his father sighed, motioning to Ashton weakly with the hand he had been rubbing the back of his neck with. “The thing is, you aren’t actually _human._ ” He said eventually, letting out in a breath like it pained him to admit.

Ashton felt his heart stop for a second. “I-I’m sorry…?”

“You aren’t human, Ashy…” His mother said slowly, rubbing her arm nervously, “Well, I mean, you’re _half_ -human, thanks to your dad, but, uh…”

Ashton felt like the ground had been swept out from under him, and the arms he had crossed over his chest dropped to his sides as he stared at them. His mother continued explaining, waving her hands around in the air like that might help her make more sense.

“See, Ashton, I didn’t- I _wasn’t_ -“ She sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a couple of moments. When she looked back at him her eyes held so many emotions; so much age she nearly seemed…. Ageless.

“Do you remember the stories I used to tell you? About… about Nymphs and fairies and the like?” Reya asked softly, and slowly, Ashton nodded. “Well, you see… I’m, uh….”

“Your mother used to be a Shadow Nymph.”

Ashton stared, trying to figure out if his dad was joking. “Are… Are you serious?”

His mother nodded quickly, biting her lip. “I know it’s weird, sweetheart, but it _is_ the truth. Although, I’ve been a human for over 14 years now. I drained all my magic when you were just a year old.”

“Wait, but…” Ashton began, voice cracking slightly without him meaning for it to. “I thought they were the bad ones….?”

His mom smiled apologetically, although she laughed as well. “Yes, most of us are fairly evil, now. That’s why the Lampades Nymphs and Hekate created all of those plants and stones that work against us. We represented and protected all the bad things, the scary things in the world that hide in the shadows, and so we were considered evil and forced out of homes that Hekate gave herbs to burn or stones to enchant.”

Ashton frowned, nodding slowly. “So… So I’m… half Nymph….? I thought Nymphs were all women.”

Ashton’s mother laughed more happily this time, nodding. “Yes, they are. Of course, no Nymph ever fell in love with a human, much less a human male who loved them back.” Ashton’s dad blushed darkly, then, laughing shyly and rubbing the back of his neck.

Ashton’s jaw dropped. “Wait…. Wait, I’m the first half-Nymph?”

“As far as we know, yes.” His mom chuckled, and although he was still shocked beyond belief, the fact Ashton wasn’t entirely human was filling him with excitement and awe.

“That’s so cool!” He said with a small laugh, looking at his mom with bright eyes. “Do I get any cool powers?!”

“Hey! Are my powers not good enough?” Dio pouted childishly, making Ashton and his mom both laugh.

“We don’t know if you’ll be getting any of my abilities, Ashy.” Reya explained softly, shrugging lightly. “You _did_ get some telling marks for the Skiad Nymphs, though. Your birthmarks are the biggest tells, but your eyes and hair are some pretty good signs, too. We certainly thought you were immune to all the herbs and stones, but we were wrong about that. You and Kenny both need to be incredibly careful on these missions now, you hear?”

Ashton blinked in surprise, frowning as he tilted his head to the side. “Wait, Kenny reacted to them, too?”

His parents nodded, frowning along with him. “He didn’t react nearly as bad as you, but he looked sick when he brought you home- and considering how calm he was when he came back in after scrubbing himself and the cats down with the Rowan and Rosemary products we have under the sink, it wasn’t you’re state of being that made him look that sick.”

“Why did it affect him, too?” Ashton asked softly, and his mom sighed.

“Sweetie, we’d love to tell you, but I’m afraid that’s something only Kenny should say. Now then, you go back to bed and rest for a few hours.” She said softly, and Ashton nodded, his curiosity for what was going on sated.

\----

After school, Kenny went back to visit Ashton with the other Freedom Pals in tow, along with Craig in tow. The others wanted to come, but Coon was keeping them there against their will to interrogate Butters, who, due to Cartman’s idiocy, had apparently been forced to miss an entire day of school.

He went up to the door, knocking on it far more calmly than he had last night.

“Coming!” Mr. Fairweather opened the door a few moments later, and he smiled at Kenny and the others. “Oh, afternoon, boys! Is school over already?”

“Yes sir. Is Ashton still home?”

Mr. Fairweather, nodded, smiling a bit. “Yes, he’s home. Right now he’s in the basement, practicing.”

“Practicing?” Craig asked, frowning. “Shouldn’t he be resting in bed?”

“What _is_ he practicing, anyway?” Token asked curiously, and Mr. Fairweather smiled secretively.

“He’s feeling well enough to practice. If you want to know just what he’s practicing, boys, I’d head down and see for yourself.” He started to motion for them to enter the house, but his gaze soon became suspicious and he stopped. “Wait, hold on. I don’t know physical descriptions of most of you- none of you are Eric Cartman, correct?”

“Cartman’s not here, sir. Promise.” Kenny said honestly, Tweek nodded quickly in agreement while Timmy and Token let out small sounds of confirmation.

Mr. Fairweather’s suspicious expression turned back into a happy, bright smile, and he stepped aside, letting the boys in. “Then come right on in! I’ll make you boys some hot chocolate. Is anyone allergic to chocolate or lactose intolerant?”

At everyone’s shake of their head and Timmy’s apparent telepathic answer, if Mr. Fairweather’s eyes subtly widening was any indication, Ashton’s father smiled and nodded. “Alrighty then. Head on down now, I’ll be down in a bit.”

Kenny and the others nodded, heading over to the basement door. It was cracked open, music slipping through. Kenny looked at everyone to see if they knew the song, but everyone shook their head. It sounded vaguely familiar, becoming clearer as he opened the door and started to quietly descend the stairs.

What the group saw stunned them, and Kenny nearly got dizzy from his blood trying to shoot in two totally opposite directions before he simply became amazed.

Ashton’s basement was simply decorated; speakers in the back corner walls and pumping out music at a level that drowned out sound but didn’t try and burst your eardrums, a balance beam near one wall, a punching bag beside it along with a tall stack of what looked like foam mats, and a long, wall-length mirror from the floor to the ceiling. The thing that caught the group’s attention, though, was the long silver pole just barely off center of the room, and who was twisting around with scary ease at least halfway up it.

“Oh god, please don’t get hurt!” Tweek whimpered behind Kenny, and Kenny silently agreed, even as none of them were able to look away.

Ashton, dressed in an extremely loose (and extremely sweaty) t-shirt and compression shorts with most of his hair pulled up into a ponytail and completely unaware of their presence, moved from the current position he was in- which was essentially hanging upside down and only holding onto the pole with his legs. He stretched back up into an upright position, grabbing the pole with his hands as he unwrapped his legs from around the pole.

Ashton shifted how his arms were placed, tucking the pole into his right armpit and placing his left hand a bit lower as he stretched his legs straight out behind him. He barely shook at all from having to keep his entire body straight out from the pole like a flag in the wind. Token gasped softly behind Kenny, the sound so quiet it was almost immediately drowned out by the music.

Kenny watched as Ashton took a steadying breath, letting his sweat-slicked bangs fall momentarily out of his face as he dipped his head forward. He mumbled something to himself, and Kenny watched, awed and heart racing, as Ashton adjusted how his right hand was holding the pole before slowly straightening his arms and spreading his legs out.

Kenny just about died as he held that position a few minutes, Ashton’s shirt having slipped down to expose the pale expanse of his stomach, glistening with sweat.

In rapid succession- faster than anyone could keep up with, at first, Ashton started making his way down the pole, swinging his feet down quickly before swinging them back up as he let go of the bar just long enough to flip around. Kenny wasn’t entirely sure- Ashton was moving too fast for him to accurately tell- but there was a splash of pure black on Ashton’s skin, hidden beneath the shirt. Ashton flipped over like that a couple more times, getting further down the pole each time, until he was close enough to the ground he could lower his legs and stand on the ground again. Instead, he slowly lowered his legs down from the air, closing them together as he did.

With a small roll of his stomach he brought his knees back up to his chest, using momentum to bring his legs up and over his body, twisting to the side as he moved his left hand further up to pole to keep his center of gravity as he spread his legs out again as he lifted himself into a sitting position. He slid himself the rest of the way to the floor until he was sitting flush against the ground.

Finally, he let go of the pole, flopping back onto his back with a groan. His cheeks were red from exertion, and he was panting heavily, grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it up to wipe away sweat from his face. Kenny gulped at the sight of his stomach again, and Craig lightly hit him upside the head as he hopped past him to go over to Ashton. Ashton startled slightly at the sight of Craig appearing over him, but the words they exchanged were drowned out by the music.

“Dude, you never told us you could do that!” Token cheered, rushing over to Ashton as he, Tweek, and Kenny finally got off the steps, Timmy not far behind.

“What are all of you doing here?” Ashton asked breathlessly, taking the hand Tweek offered him and standing up as Tweek stepped back to pull him up.

“We came to see how you were feeling.” Kenny explained loud enough to be heard over the music, looking around for any of the cats. “Where are the cats, by the way?”

Ashton held up a finger, bringing his feet up before bringing them down quickly to carry him up onto his feet. He walked over to the speakers, turning off the music. “Upstairs with mom.” He explained, still panting softly. “She’s trying to make them understand using a litter box before one of them has another accident while we get everything set up and try to make an appointment with a good vet to figure out if they belong to anybody.”

“How’s that working for her?” Token asked, and Ashton laughed.

“Judging by the frustrated whines coming from the bathroom, not as well as she’d hope.” He laughed, shrugging a bit. “Ah, sorry if I smell absolutely disgusting right now, I’ve been at this for a while and it’s been a couple of weeks since I just held positions without frequently switching them around or being able to twist into them a bit more easily when the pole is spinning.

“Wait, how long have you been doing this?” Tweek asked, and it took Ashton a moment to answer.

“Uhhhh I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was four, and pole dancing for five years now, I think?”

“Isn’t that a little too, uh, sexual? For little kids, I mean.” Token asked, and Ashton shrugged.

“I mean, pole dancing is still a form of dance anyone can learn if they’re willing to train and practice. Dance style, well… it depends on the person. A lot of people do sensual, sexual stuff with it, but a lot also don’t, and make really cool routines and the like with it. I don’t like doing the more sexual stuff because it makes me _vastly_ uncomfortable, but it’s incredibly fun and really good training and the competitions look pretty cool, too.” Ashton shrugged again, perking up slightly when someone came downstairs. “Hey dad!”

“Here’s the hot chocolate, boys! And some water for you, Asher.” As his dad set the tray of hot chocolates on a table, he tossed a water bottle over and Ashton cheered happily as he caught it, Kenny and the others going to get their hot chocolate.

“Thank you!” He said quickly, unscrewing the cap and taking a big drink from it. “Can I wipe off the pole like usual?” He asked, and Mr. Fairweather chuckled.

“Sure thing. It’ll go a lot faster if you do, anyway.”

“Great!” Ashton set his water down and grabbed a cloth rag and spray bottle on a hook near the speakers. He sprayed the rag with the cleaning solution before e running at the pole and jumping, grabbing onto the pole with his hand and wrapping his legs around it as well to hold him upright. Slowly, he lowered himself to the ground, rubbing down the pole as he went.

Kenny took a drink from his hot chocolate, really, really hoping he wasn’t blushing.

Well, if he hadn’t been sure he liked Ashton as more than a friend before, he certainly was now.

Ashton let out a pleased huff as he stepped back, nodding at the clean pole and putting everything back in its place. He walked over to the group, taking another drink of his water. “So how was school?”

“Awful.” Craig said simply, “Cartman was acting like a lunatic all day.”

Ashton’s nose crinkled adorably as he let out a disgusted sound, “He’s not gonna be yelling at me again, is he?”

“He better not,” Tweek snapped suddenly, smiling apologetically a moment later, clearly a little more jittery than normal. “Sorry, lots of coffee today.”

“Not even I can keep Tweekers totally calm from getting mad enough at Cartman he wants to punch his lights out.” Craig agreed dramatically, and Kenny chuckled.

“You probably could do that, though, Tweek!” He explained. “You _do_ know boxing!”

“Oh, don’t remind me!” Tweek bemoaned, “That was the worst experience _ever_.”

“I don’t know, I thought it was kind of fun.” Craig said with a small smirk.

“Of course you did, you _like_ fighting, you brute.”

Ashton’s father chuckled, shaking his head good-naturedly. “Alright, alright. How about we head back upstairs, hm? You boys can talk there after Ashton showers.”

“That is a brilliant idea!” Ashton agreed quickly, already starting to bound up the stairs. “Come on, guys!”

Kenny exchanged glances with the others, amazed by just how quickly Ashton could bounce back from collapsing the night before. He wondered if it was because of all those things the Fairweathers had been burning in his room while Kenny and the cats bathed.

“Well then… Let’s head back up.” Token said with a small hum, taking another drink from his hot chocolate before ascending the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ashton's practice (without the spinning, because his parents would have murdered him if he had done that so soon after being exposed to 6 different plants that were bad for him):
> 
> First move: https://youtu.be/HhHko7DU-ks?t=2m36s to 2m50s  
> Third move: https://youtu.be/wQUCpixuLCQ?t=1m10s to 1m23s


	25. The Time for Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd just like to say: The story begins to get the tiniest bit more mature as Kenny's more mature (would perverted be the word? XD it doesn't quite fit to me) thoughts start to come back into play. If that makes you uncomfortable, please let me know and I'll do my best to warn you if it gets a little too detailed to necessarily be a "safe" zone!
> 
> Also, while we ARE on that topic.... um... would you guys want to read more physical moments between the two later on, or just keep it fluff with implied moments more than actually reading it? If you do, I'll chance the rating when we reach that point! If not, rating will stay T

Mysterion sighed from his perch on the roof of the house across the street. Should he pay Ashton a visit? It didn’t really make sense, from a secret identity point, and Ashton already knew he- well, _Kenny_ \- had checked on him. After that small show this afternoon, though… Mysterion just couldn’t get him out of his head.

The pale expanse of his stomach returned to the forefront of his mind, making Mysterion try to swallow around the lump that suddenly formed his throat; the glistening of sweat, and the flash of black along Ashton’s lower back. Did Ashton have a tattoo? Mysterion wondered just what it was, how far it dipped down into his pants or crawled up his back. He wanted to know.

Admittedly, at the current moment Mysterion was feeling a bit like a creep- his head was already turning to more inappropriate thoughts and he was looking in the darkened bedroom of his crush. Not exactly the most innocent or appropriate of places to be thinking of things like that, he had to admit. Maybe he should just go home, put today’s little slap to the face for him to good use, and go to sleep. He had already finished his patrol, and it was getting late.

“What are you doing?”

Mysterion’s heart leapt into his throat as he was startled, looking behind him to see Umbra leaning against the chimney of the house, smiling easily at him as he hooked his thumbs on the belts around his waist.

“Umbra?!” He gasped, voice cracking slightly. He quickly cleared his throat, bringing his voice back down to the gravely, rough voice Mysterion had. “Umbra,” He said again, calmer this time as he carefully stood up. “What are you doing here? You should be resting.”

“Well, I came to thank you.” Umbra said with a small hum, pushing off the chimney and walking over to Mysterion. “I hear you were the one who carried me home after I fell unconscious.”

“You heard right.” Mysterion said softly, “Toolshed could handle his own with Coon and Friends, and you needed to get out of there, fast.”

Umbra chuckled, nodding a bit, he looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t open his mouth to speak, instead nibbling on his lower lip. This close, Mysterion could smell the soaps Ashton’s parents made him clean with the night before.

“Are you feeling okay?” Mysterion asked after a moment. “You were bleeding, and your shoulder seemed like it was bugging you last night, too.”

Umbra’s eyes widened slightly, and he laughed a moment later. “Aw~, are you _worried_ about me?”

Mysterion could feel the blush already crawling up his neck, and he was incredibly grateful his hood made it even harder to see his face in the dark. “I am not!” He snapped defensively, but he could tell by the smile in Umbra’s vibrant eyes that he didn’t believe him in the slightest.

“Uh-huh, sure you’re not.”

Mysterion scowled at the other hero, the familiar urge of wanting to punch that stupid, cocky smirk off his face appearing again. “Are you feeling better or not?” He snapped defensively, looking away.

Umbra chuckled warmly, the sound making butterflies flutter to life in Mysterion’s stomach. He stomped them down almost violently as Umbra started speaking. “I’m feeling miles better. My parents fixed most of the immediate damage right up.” He placed a hand over where his bodysuit was crudely stitched together, “I’m not allowed to go on missions for a few more days though.”

“That sucks.” Mysterion said after a moment. “We could really use your help figuring out what’s going on around here.”

“Any leads?” Umbra asked softly, smiling at Mysterion, “Maybe we can figure out where all those herbs and things will be, so both of us can be a bit more prepared.”

Yes, actually. Freedom Pals _did_ have information on the current situation going on in South Park. But he wasn’t about to tell that to Umbra- they were still on opposing sides. “Why should I tell you?’

Umbra chuckled again, shrugging. “Well, I think the fact I’m more a free agent than I am a part of Coon and Friends is a good start.”

“Not good enough.” Mysterion huffed, frowning slightly and turning away from the shadow manipulator. “You’re going to have to join Freedom Pals before learning anything we’ve learned!”

Umbra spluttered slightly, “What, you’re just going to let me get hurt again?!”

“Of course not!” Mysterion quickly retaliated, whirling around to face Umbra again, “That’s vital information for your safety!” He was stunned to believe that Umbra actually thought he’d keep _that_ kind of a lead quiet from him. “I was talking about leads about the crime syndicate!”

The small bit of mortification that Umbra thought he’d just let him walk into a veritable death trap turned into burning hot frustration as Umbra’s stunned expression turned into one of the damn smirks again.

“Yeah, I know.” Umbra hummed, grinning slyly at him. “Just wanted to see your reaction.”

“I fucking _hate_ you.” Mysterion growled out in frustration, the words barely having any heat to them. Umbra raised an eyebrow at him curiously, expression saying he didn’t believe that in the slightest.

“Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me sweetheart!”

\----

By the time Monday came around, Ashton was finally deemed healthy enough to rejoin the others in the game, and Cartman’s grudge over Ashton ducking out that night at the U-Stor-It (although he had no actual control over it to begin with) was finally over and done with. Craig and Kyle filled him in on what they had learned after capturing Professor Chaos- apparently Cartman was insisting an old hand puppet of his was the leader behind the crime syndicate, although no one- not even Professor Chaos- agreed with that.

“We still have him in the holding cells, if you want to interrogate him about anything.” Kyle explained as they headed down their street. Ashton froze, eyes growing wide.

“Wait, you mean he’s been in there since _Thursday evening_?!”

Kyle pressed his lips into a thin line, nodding. “Cartman refuses to let him out, even if Butters is totally fucked when he gets back to his parents”

“Why didn’t any of you try to smuggle him out?!” Ashton nearly shouted, already starting to break into a run for his house. “He’s so freaking screwed, oh my god!”

Although he wasn’t as close to Butters as he was the others, Ashton was still his friend and had been around long enough to see that Butters’ parents were absolute assholes who had an obsession with keeping their kid from having a life. Did the other Coon friends not remember that? Butters would be lucky if he was only grounded for the rest of his life.

He quickly ran into his room, changing into his superhero outfit as fast as he could before slipping into the shadows of his closet and appearing just outside in the shadows of a tree. He leapt back into the shadows and used the tree to get into the Coon Lair, popping up behind the holding cell. Professor Chaos was sitting down in the extra large dog kennel, looking absolutely miserable. A quick glance around showed that they were alone, Coon not having arrived yet.

“Chaos,” Umbra whispered, wincing as Professor Chaos startled violently and nearly banged his head on the roof of the kennel.

“Oh, Jesus!” Professor Chaos nearly shouted, and Umbra panicked, quickly shushing him, walking around to the front of the cage. “What are you doing, Umbra?!” He asked, voice a lot quieter now.

“You’ve been trapped in here since Thursday! What do you think I’m doing, man? Your parents are going to murder you.”

“I’m the villain, though!” Professor Chaos argued, although there was still the nervous pull to his voice that said he _really_ wasn’t looking forward to going home.

Umbra rolled his eyes, growling in frustration as the latch caught and refused to budge. “Ah, stupid dog kennels! Why can’t their latches ever work right?!” He hissed under his breath, before looking up at Chaos. “Doesn’t matter. You’re a friend first and foremost, and that means getting you out of here and- Ah-hah!” Umbra grinned as he got the latches undone, the door swinging wide open. “Come on!”

“Ah, jeez, Umbra, I don’t know. The others tried to get me out but they just got caught upstairs and scolded by Coon.”

Umbra laughed slightly, giving Professor Chaos a confident, lopsided smile. “They didn’t have a mode of transportation ready.” He hummed, “Now are we going to do this the easy way that involves you getting out of the cage, or the hard way?”

Professor Chaos just stared.

Umbra sighed, ready to get Professor Chaos to listen to him and trust him, but before he could, the room was suddenly blinded with light. Umbra yelped, losing his balance and falling back onto his butt. He groaned when he spotted Coon on the stairs; hand on the light switch by the door and shaking his head slowly in disappointment.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk…. Umbra, I thought you were better than this, helping the enemy.” Coon said solemnly, and Umbra glared as he stood.

“Butters needs to get home, Cartman!” He snapped, “His parents are going to kill him!”

“He is not leaving until he tells us everything he knows!”

“I already did tell you!” Butters argued, “I don’t know anything else!”

Coon growled, pointing at Butters. “No! I know you’re hiding something from us, Chaos, and I won’t rest until I learn what it is!”

“Cartman, this is insane!” Human Kite snapped as he came downstairs, frowning. “Let him go already- Ashton’s right, he needs to get home!” The other Coon Friends appeared behind him, nodding in agreement.

Coon snarled, stomping his foot on the ground angrily. “All of you are such fucking traitors!”

“No, you’re just a crazy idiot.” Super Craig explained dryly, walking over and sitting down in his usual seat. “Can we just get this meeting over with? You said it was important and I have shit to do.”

“Ah, right.” Coon walked over, yanking Umbra out of the way as Fastpass turned the main lights off again and drowning the Coon Lair in the darkened glow of Christmas lights and the occasional actual lamp. Umbra stumbled back a few steps, snarling at Coon as he slammed the kennel door shut in front of Professor Chaos, who simply sighed and flopped back to stare at the blanketed top of the cell. Coon glared at him, pointing to the table. “Go sit in one of the open seats, Umbra.”

“If it weren’t for the laws of this land, I would kill you.” Umbra grumbled under his breath as he walked over to the chair furthest from Coon and sitting down in it with a huff. Super Craig, who was sitting next to him, patted his arm sympathetically.

Coon sighed as he walked to his seat at the head of the table, sitting down slowly and folding his hands in front of him. “Coon Friends, these are dark times.” He began, looking at the group with a saddened gaze. “We now know for a fact, that Scrambles, the missing cat, is part of a much larger conspiracy. We also know…” Coon’s expression turned angry, and he unfolded his hands to jab his finger at the desk. “That the fucking Freedom Pals have more information about this conspiracy than we do. Fuck!”

“Maybe we should just face it, guys.” Mosquito said, disheartened, “Maybe the Freedom Pals have a better super franchise than we do.” He buzzed sadly, looking down at the table. Umbra couldn’t help but feel a little bad about it- at least until Coon slammed a fist into the table and startled all of them.

“Hey! That’s no way to talk, Mosquito! The only reason that Freedom Pals are ahead of us is because they’re buttfucking cheaters who sold out!”

“Yeah, but Freedon Pals have Doctor Timothy and he can read people’s minds and bend reality.” Captain Diabetes said, and Coon huffed, throwing his hands in the air.

“Yeah, cuz he just said that! When we made up out super powers he was, like, ‘Well I have the power to do fucking everything!’” Coon crudely mimicked, and Umbra wondered just what he thought Timmy’s voice in his head was whenever Timmy read his mind or spoke. “You think that’s fair?! It’s time for us to be as dirty as them. We have to know what the Freedom Pals know.”

Umbra crossed his arms over his chest, rolling his eyes. “I think the last thing they are doing is cheating, but all right.”

“Well how are we ever going to get the help of the Freedom Pals?” Fastpass asked, and Coon was quiet for a moment as he got out of his seat, turning away from the others and clasping his hands behind his back.

“We send a spy. Someone in our group who pretends to wanna switch sides and join the Freedom Pals. Someone, who they don’t know very well. Someone…” Coon trailed off a bit, turning around and pinning Umbra with an evil looking smirk. He wasn’t thinking of doing what Umbra thought he was doing, was he? He silently prayed he was wrong, but his fears were confirmed as Coon finished his sentence, “Who they trust.”

Everyone looked at Umbra then, and that was, officially the last straw. “Okay, no way am I—“

“Hope you’re good at bullshitting, Umbra.” Mosquito said.

Umbra stood up, quickly, his chair scrapping across the floor, “I’m _not_ —“

Captain Diabetes was the one to interrupt Umbra this time. “You’ll never get past their security grid. They change it every day-”

“I can get Ashton inside!” Professor Chaos shouted, leaning forward and grabbing the door of the cage. “I’ve got hacking abilities, remember? Cuz I’m a gadgeteer class with the tinkering ability.”

“No dice, Chaos.” Coon said confidently, “You’re just saying that to get out of jail.”

“You better let him go.” Human Kite said, “Ashton will need-“

“Will everyone _shut UP?!_ ” Umbra shouted, nearly snarling as he slammed his hands down onto the table. “I refuse to spy on the Freedom Pals!”

The silence that filled the room was nearly deafening.

“What do you mean you won’t spy on them?” Coon asked slowly, “You are the only one who fits the description.”

“I’m not going to betray my friends like that! You guys may have a problem with them but _I_ don’t!”

“Well then, as one of the Coon Friends you _have_ to do what I say, and I say you spy on them!” Coon snapped, and Umbra growled.

“Then I’m not going to be a Coon Friend anymore!” He snapped in return, “I never _wanted_ to be stuck under your thumb in the first place.”

Coon let out a dramatic gasp, even as Super Craig mumbled that he saw this coming from a mile away. “You can’t leave!”

“Oh yeah?” Umbra challenged, smirking at the Raccoon hero. “Watch me!” He gave the Coon Friends a short nod, flipped off Coon, and turned from the table, walking to the top of the stairs and slipping into the shadows as Coon shouted for him to get back to the meeting.

Leaving the others to deal with Cartman alone left a bitter taste on his tongue, but he also felt freer than he had in days, and that made his decision worth it.


	26. Gaining New Allies

Umbra growled as he appeared between Cartman and Butters’ houses, kicking at the snow in frustration. The _nerve_ of Coon for thinking he’d betray the Freedom Pals’ trust. He stood there for a few minutes, taking deep, heavy breathes of the cold air to try and calm himself down, and making sure he was thinking with a clear head before doing anything else.

“Uh- hey! Hey, Umbra!” Umbra whirled around, eyes widening when he saw Professor Chaos running over to him. “Hey, are you gonna need help getting into the Freedom Pals’ base?”

“I already _told_ you guys, I’m not going to trick them.” Umbra scowled, and Professor Chaos shrunk back slightly, scratching at his cheek. “Oh, I-I know that, Ashton. But you’re gonna join them, right? You need a way to get into their base to talk to them.”

Umbra sighed, wondering if he should say that he _could_ just call them and head over there with one of them, but after a moment he chuckled. “Alright, I guess you can come with. I don’t really need help getting in, though…”

“O-Oh, really? Aw I don’t want to be a bother if that’s the case!”

Umbra waved off his concern. “Nah, it’s alright, really. I _do_ have some questions for you, if you’re willing to answer.”

“I guess so! What do you want to ask?” Professor Chaos asked, and Umbra smiled a little.

“Can we walk and talk at the same time?”

“If we’re going already, I need to get my minions from my room!” Butters explained, looking a little pale at the thought of returning home. Umbra bit his lip, worrying at it.

“Hey, do your parents do to check on you when you’re grounded?” He asked, and slowly, Butters shook his head.

“They haven’t for years- only when it’s time to eat or go to school.” He explained, frowning. “Why?”

Umbra grinned, taking Professor Chaos’ wrist and starting to pull him towards the Stotch house. “I have a plan.” He explained simply, and he went up to Butters’ room with him quietly. Butter immediately started looking for the minion, frowning when he saw he wasn’t in the cage hidden in the corner.

“Oh, where’d he go?” Professor Chaos clicked his tongue, digging through his drawer and throwing things all over his meticulously cleaned room. “Oh! Here he is!” Butter stepped back, proudly holding a little hamster with a tiny tin foil hat. Umbra smiled fondly, finding the boy to genuinely be adorable instead of evil. “Hey little buddy, you ready to hack some control panels?”

The hamster squeaked and Umbra chuckled as Butters grinned happily. “Alright! Let’s get to the Freedom Pal’s base and—“

“BUTTERS!”

“AHH!” Professor Chaos shouted, turning around to face his father. Even Umbra had jumped from the man’s shout.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, MISTER?!”

“Oh, hey dad, I budda, I just been hanging out with my new friend, and uh—“ Butters tripped over his words, stuttering and trying to come up with a reason for his having disappeared for four days.

“YOU’VE BEEN GONE FOR FOUR DAYS, BUTTERS! YOUR MOM AND I WERE WORRIED SICK! WE COULDN’T EVEN ENJOY OUR MOVIES!”

Umbra stepped in as Mr. Stotch continued to shout, getting in front of Butters and putting on his best smile. “Mr. Stotch, if I could just explain. See, we were playing around with the others, like we’re all prone to do, and some stuff happened that caused—“

“Who are you?!” Mr. Stotch snapped, and Umbra felt his eye twitch slightly. He was sick of being interrupted today. He kept his smile on his face to the best of his ability,

“My name is Ashton Fairweather. My family and I moved in next door about a month or so ago. See, we were hanging out Thursday evening and had so much fun we ended up forgetting to call, and he showed me around town all weekend. I’m sorry we never called for make sure it was alright he slept over.”

“Sorry is no excuse! Butters! You and your friend here are hereby grounded!” Without another word, Mr. Stotch slammed Butters’ door behind him on his way out, and the lock and alarm attached to the door activated.

“Aw, hamburgers…. What do we do now?” Professor Chaos asked and Umbra walked over to the window, pulling the blinds closed so the room was a bit darker.

“Now, we escape.” He declared, taking Professor Chaos’ wrist. “Hold on tight to both me and your minion- this is going to be a tiny bit disorienting!”

Professor Chaos had a question the tip of his tongue, but before it could even come out, Umbra had pulled them into the shadows of his bed and lap.

He led them to the shadow of the tree he used to get out of Cartman’s house, slipping out of the shadows and hearing Professor Chaos gasp loudly beside him.

“How’d you do that?!” Professor Chaos gasped and all Umbra gave in response was a wink and a finger to his lips.

“It’s a secret.” He hummed, walking around to the other side of the tree. “Anyway, let’s get going, yeah? I have some question for you.”

“Oh right!” Professor Chaos exclaimed, rushing to catch up to him. “What’d you wanna ask, Umbra?”

“Did you notice any odd smell or feeling in your hideout Thursday?” Umbra asked after a moment, glance at Butters as they walked down the street. “Were you told by the person who gave you money to do anything you found odd or strange?”

“Uhh….” Professor Chaos frowned, thinking about it for a few minutes. “I mean, sure, but-“

“Like what?”

“Like- Like what?” Professor Chaos looked at Umbra suspiciously, “Why should I tell you?”

“Because it’s incredibly important. Please.” Umbra said softly, and Professor Chaos’ expression softened.

“Aw, jeez… Well, they had my minions and I set dishes of vinegar all over the building with sage leafs in them until all the vinegar evaporated. “ Umbra frowned, stomach twisting at the words. He couldn’t smell anything in the air when he was in the hideout- except the smoke from the fire. There hadn’t been a single lick of vinegar in the air, though.

Would he be walking into these places blind?

“Was that it?”

“Uh… I think so.” Professor Chaos explained, frowning slightly. “I don’t remember if there was anything else.”

Umbra sighed, nodding slightly. “Alright… Thanks for the info.”

“Did I help you figure something out?”

Umbra smiled. “Yeah, you did.” He said softly, “You helped me out quite a bit, actually.” They fell into silence as they walked, Professor Chaos’ minion squeaking quietly in his hands.

When they finally got to Freedom Pals’ School for the Gifted and Talented, Umbra could feel a tendril of nervousness finally slip between his ribs. What if the Freedom Pals didn’t actually want him to join? They had said there door was always open, but…

He shook the thoughts away, stepping into the threshold of Token’s homeand heading for their basement door.

“So if we aren’t gonna be using my minion, how do you plan on getting inside?” Professor Chaos asked, and Umbra chuckled softly.

“Same way we got out of your house.” He explained, looking around for a proper shadow. When he spotted one, he grabbed Chaos’ wrist again and ran for the shadow, Chaos yelping as they plunged right back into the shadows and nearly fell right back out of them into the shadows in the basement.

Umbra kept him from falling when they slipped out of the shadows, chuckling a bit even as exhaustion started tugging at the edge of his . “Whoa there, Chaos! Everything fine?”

“I’m good, I’m good.” Chaos murmured, standing straight and brushing himself off. “You good, little buddy?” He asked his hamster, who squeaked in confirmation. After making sure they were all okay, the two boys used the chance to look around.

As many times as Ashton had been in Token’s home, he had never been in his basement. The large space was filled with all kinds of things for a Superhero’s needs- from a training room, to a mode of transportation and hold cells. Tupperware’s Mech-suit was in the corner, and the large space in the middle of the room made Umbra a bit jealous. If his basement was a big as this, he could have even _more_ space to practice and replace the complete lack of a large gym- outside the school’s meager training room- or trampoline park.

“Holy shmokes, they’ve got a training room and computers, and lights! Well, this beats the crap out of the Coon Lair, doesn’t it, Ashton?”

Ashton chuckled, nodding. “Yes, it does! I’m certainly envious.”

“Gee, I could play here every day!”

“What are you doing here?!”

Umbra gasped as Professor Chaos screamed, wheeling around to face Tupperware and Mysterion. “Mysterion!”

“Why’d you bring Chaos here?!” Mysterion snarled, and okay, yeah, thinking about it, Umbra probably shouldn’t have brought the villain of their group to one of the secret hideouts.

“It was the only way to get him out of that damn holding cell Coon kept him in all weekend.” He said instead, as Professor Chaos started stuttering beside him.

“W-We just wanted to talk to Doctor Timothy!”

“Why?” Umbra jumped, looking over his shoulder at Wonder Tweek.

“I want to switch sides. Coon was trying to make me spy on you, and I refused and left the group entirely.” He explained, looking back at Mysterion. Mysterion frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.

“How can we believe that’s not a lie?”

“I _don’t_ lie.” Umbra said sternly, holding himself a little higher and crossing his arms over his chest. “You know that.”

_“Calm down, everyone. Let’s hear what they have to say.”_

“Oh, god. It’s him.” Professor Chaos gasped beside Umbra as Doctor Timothy wheeled out from behind a tightly closed pair of space curtains. Mysterion and Wonder Tweek moved to flank his sides.

 _“This is a fairly shocking change of heart for you, Professor. You really wish to help Umbra change franchises?_ ”

Umbra kind of wished they didn’t talk about him like he wasn’t there, but also knew this was a question he could not answer- he wasn’t even sure if Professor Chaos could actually be trusted, now that he thought about it.

Wow, he was stupid for bringing Chaos here without even double checking his intentions first.

It took all Umbra had to not slap a hand to his face at the realization of just how stupid he was for doing this- he had focused too hard on getting Chaos away from his parents’ grounding, and completely forgot to make sure he wasn’t dragging a willing spy for Coon and Friends into the enemy base.

“ _Umbra_ ,” Timothy’s voice caught Umbra’s attention, and he turned his attention back to the Freedom Pals. “ _To make sure your intentions are pure, you can accompany Tupperware on an important mission later today.”_

“Yes sir.” Umbra agreed, even as Tupperware grumbled that he didn’t need help and Timothy reminded him of their motto.

 _“I’ll send you the details of the mission. When you get there, we can begin. In the meantime… I must get back to my work_.”

The sound of Doctor Timothy’s voice in Umbra’s head was still incredibly odd, especially since the tingling at the back of his neck only got worse, instead of disappearing when he found the supernatural he was supposed to find. Timmy very clearly had _some_ sort of supernatural ability, so why hadn’t the tingling at the back of his neck disappeared yet?

Wonder Tweek and Mysterion held open the curtains for Doctor Timothy, closing them once he had gone through. Tweek walked away, and Mysterion stepped to cover the parting of the sheets, guarding the space.

Umbra smiled at Wonder Tweek. “What’s up?”

“I heard you were injured pretty badly a few days ago. Are you really okay to be back?” He asked, worry obvious in his voice even as he seemed uncertain about trusting him. Umbra smiled, nodding.

“I’ve got my ways of healing, don’t worry. I’m almost completely better now.”

Wonder Tweek nodded, thinking something over for a minute or two. “Did you really leave Coon and Friends?”

Umbra nodded, humming his confirmation. “I value trust above anything else. I refuse to break the trust I have built with the five of you, and since all but Super Craig seemed adamant on me coming here as a spy, I decided it was time for me to leave Coon and Friends behind.”

“Last week you said there was something you had been searching for. Did you find it?” Toolshed asked, walking over as Professor Chaos almost shyly went to look around the base.

Umbra shook his head, smiling a bit sadly. “I’m afraid not.” He said with a small sigh, “However, I think I could possibly find it here, with all of you.”

“What is it you are looking for, exactly?” Mysterion asked from his guard, “Maybe it’d go faster if we could help.”

Before flat out saying no, Umbra _did_ take the time to consider it. He had no idea what he was looking for, had very little leads to who the supernatural might be, and the Freedom Pals were offering their assistance. They knew far more about the town that Ashton could ever hope to.

Umbra was tempted to tell them, but to most of the Freedom Pals, he was just playing make-believe. He smiled regretfully at Mysterion, shaking his head. “I’m afraid that’s a secret I can’t afford to say. Thank you, though, for the offer.”

“Mysterion, are you showing a _soft spot_ for Umbra?” Tupperware teased from his place near his mech-suit, and Umbra chuckled as Mysterion growled in warning.

“I am not!”

Umbra left them to bicker, taking a look around the base as he did. It was interesting how much more detailed their base was compared to the Coon Lair, although considering how self-centered everything in the Coon Lair was, it wasn’t extremely hard to be more detailed.

Still, Umbra was thoroughly impressed as he looked around and took in the training room—a room created out of cardboard boxes with peeling, old yellow grids along the walls and floor and a punching bag in one corner with practice dummies nearby- and the cardboard car parked in one corner, although that was admittedly a bit dusty from not being used for a long time. Umbra guessed that they either walked everywhere, or had Token drive them somewhere in his actual car.

Not quite sure what else to do for the time being, since the Freedom Pals still seemed rather adamant about not telling him anything until after he could prove he was trustworthy, Umbra trained.


	27. Mysterion Has A Soft Spot!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a Spotify playlist for the story! It's mostly songs that I think Ashton would either A) listen to as he did his workouts/practice or B) create/do routines to, or that fit Ashton, Kenny, and/or their relationship. Check it out, if you want!
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> [More Than Survive Playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/beneath_the_trees/playlist/5XU4KBoEqaM2CLOlCG3IV0)
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> Side note: Please come talk to me on twitter if you have one! I'd love to share some headcanons between Ashton and Kenny that I might not touch on in the story! Down in the comments works to, if you want :)

Mysterion glared at Toolshed, who had been teasing him for a good 20 minutes now that Umbra, Professor Chaos, Wonder Tweek, and Tupperware had gone to the community center to do Tupperware’s mission.

“Dude, _something_ happened between you two- you have to admit you’ve been staring at him a little more than necessary today.”

Mysterion could feel a blush crawling up his skin. “I have not!” He retaliated sharply, walking away from the curtains leading to Doctor Timothy’s workspace and sitting down in one of the chairs off to the side. He had _not_ been staring at Umbra- and if he was, it was because he wanted to make sure he wouldn’t try anything funny.

It had both been a relief to see Umbra appear in their base, asking to join the Freedom Pals, and a bit of a punch to the gut when he saw Professor Chaos beside him. The villain was the common enemy between _both_ hero groups, and while Coon might have been okay with talking about their plans in front of the blond, the Freedom Pals _weren’t_. For Umbra to willingly bring Chaos here made a small ball of uncertainty settle in his stomach, even if Umbra’s reasoning was sound.

Yeah, he was glad Butters could finally go home and hopefully have a minor grounding instead of a beating, but Professor Chaos had no business being in their base.

Although, he supposed this was as good a test as any to test both of their allegiances.

He sighed softly, frowning at the wall across from him like it might magically give him the answers he wanted.

He ignored Toolshed’s continued teasing, instead thinking about what the Fairweathers had told him that night he took Umbra home. There were more people like him, that had actual abilities and the Fairweathers were there to look for them.

He wished he knew what they were planning on doing when they found them. They hadn’t done anything to Mysterion- after he said he couldn’t die, they really just explained that they had powers too, were looking for others like them, and then proceeded to explain all the things that would apparently affect Umbra and him because of the fact their powers were all connected to darkness, and that because Ashton was born with his powers instead of cursed, it affected him more.

It was still difficult to wrap his head around- the next day he had used the Freedom Pals’ computer to research as much as he could about what would hurt them.

As it turns out, a _lot_ would, and the worst part about it would be that they wouldn’t even be able to tell they were walking into a trap until it was too late.

“ _Mysterion_ ,” Mysterion looked up at the sound of Doctor Timothy’s voice, walking over to the curtains and peeking in just enough to see his outline in the darkness.

“Yes, Doctor?”

“ _Go meet the others outside the community center. They should be finishing up right about now.”_

“Okay.” Mysterion dropped the curtain, gave a short nod to Toolshed, and ascended the stairs.

He made his way to the community center right as the others walked out, chatting about something idly. Umbra covered his mouth with his hand, yawning, and Mysterion noticed that Professor Chaos wasn’t there anymore.

He must have taken him back home.

“So how’d the mission go?” He asked, walking over to the group, and Umbra shrugged.

“It went well. Professor Chaos had to leave, though. Apparently Umbra had snuck him out of his house and he had to get back before his parents noticed he was gone.” Tupperware explained. “I’d say Umbra’s trustworthy.”

“Agreed!” Wonder Tweek exclaimed quickly, grinning at the group.

Mysterion nodded, feeling his lips quirk into a small smile as he grabbed his communicator. “Doc, this is Mysterion. The mission is complete.”

“ _Nice work everyone!”_ Doctor Timothy’s voice echoed through the group’s heads, “ _Umbra, congratulations. You’re officially a member of the Freedom Pals. You can begin to help us collect information and join us on our infiltration of the Police Station in three days time.”_

“We’ve ascertained that the police are being paid off by whoever is running crime in the city.” Mysterion explained.

_“That’s right. We believe we’ll find the answers to what’s going on there. Welcome to the team, friend.”_

“Glad to be a part of it.” Umbra said, smiling a little bit soon after. Mysterion had a feeling he was pretty happy that he had a couple of nights to recharge after taking Butters through the shadows more than once.

“Let’s head back to base and figure out our next step.” Mysterion looked at Umbra as the call with Doctor Timothy ended. “We have a lot we need to get you caught up on.”

\---

After getting Umbra caught up in what they had learned, Token’s father had come downstairs and told the boys it was time to go home. Mysterion walked along the streets quietly, wondering if he could stop by Ashton’s with Karen so she could play with the cats.

They had been doing their best not to name the cats while finding a proper vet to get them checked, but Mysterion could feel the struggle radiating from everyone- even he wanted to keep and name one of the cats; preferably the tabby. He ducked through the hole in the fence behind his house, slipping in through the secret pathway into his closet.

Kenny carefully took off his Mysterion outfit, putting on a pair of old sweatpants and his usual white t-shirt and parka. When he was satisfied with where his Mysterion outfit was stored, he stepped out of his closet, sighing softly.

“Karen! Are you home?” He called as he stepped out of his room.

“In the kitchen!” Karen called back, and Kenny wandered into the kitchen, smiling when he saw Karen and his mom both pouring over notebooks and some sort of packet.

“Uh, see, I think this is, uh… ah, shit…” His mom scratched her head, frowning down at the papers in front of her.

Kenny walked over, placing a hand on the back of Karen’s chair and looking at the packet. “What’re you guys working on?”

“Well,” Their mom sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. “I’m tryin’ to help her with math, but I’m afraid I ain’t much help.”

“That’s okay!” Karen said cheerfully, grinning down at her papers. The page she was working on was already mostly filled out. “It’s a learning experience for the both of us, and we’re almost done!”

His mom chuckled weakly, clearly a little embarrassed she couldn’t really help Karen with 6th grade level math. “What’d you want yer sister for, Kenny?” She asked, looked at Kenny as she set her own pencil down.

“I was hoping she’d like to come with me to Ashton’s.”

“Ashton?” His mom repeated, frowning in thought. “Isn’t that the new boy?”

Kenny nodded quickly, and Karen quickly joined in, “Ashton’s family rescued three cats last week! They’re so cute, mom!” She explained happily, giggling as she looked at Kenny. “And the gray tabby _loves_ Kenny.”

“Does it, now?” Carol chuckled, resting her chin in her hand as she looked at him. “Sounds like a fun time.”

Karen nodded in agreement. “Can we go? We’ll be back in time for dinner!”

Kenny held his breath as his mom thought about it, hoping she’d say yes. He could still probably leave if he wanted to, but his mom had been becoming a much better mother over the years since he had gone to scare his parents almost a decade ago to make sure they treated them well and didn’t get separated again, and he didn’t want to hurt her feelings by going anyway.

Those few nights in foster care still sent shivers up Kenny’s spine- his parents might not be the best parents in existence, but they stuck together and loved each other. Being separated was difficult for all the McCormick kids.

After a few minutes, Carol sighed, nodding a bit. “If yer done with homework, I don’t see why you can’t go visit for a little bit.”

Kenny grinned, nodding and giving his mom a short hug. “Thank you! Come on, Karen, we should go before it gets dark.”

“Thank you, mom!” Karen cheered, hugging their mom before grabbing all her papers and darting for her room.

“Has this boy been to our house before?” Carol asked, when Karen was out of the kitchen and she stood for her chair. Kenny nodded.

“Yeah, last month he came over a few times. Black and white hair, violet eyes.” Kenny explained, watching as his mom walked over to their fridge and pulled out a beer. Carol hummed, before letting out a small shout of recollection.

“Oh, right! The pretty one.” Carol exclaimed, turning to face Kenny. He nodded, hoping he wasn’t blushing at the mention of Ashton being pretty. “Seems like a nice boy. Quiet, unlike that other friend o’ yours…”

“Cartman?” Kenny asked, laughing a moment later. “Yeah, they’re like night and day.”

“Kenny! Kenny, let’s go! I wanna see the kitties!” Karen shouted, bounding past the kitchen. Kenny chuckled, waving to his mom before pulling up his hood and following after Karen as she slipped through the door.

She ran ahead of Kenny as they walked past the train tracks and towards Ashton’s house. “Have they taken them to the vet yet? I want to name one!” She asked, turning around walking backwards as she spoke to him. Kenny pushed down the worry that built up in his chest. Karen wasn’t like him- she’d be fine walking like that.

“I think Mr. Fairweather is going to go to the vet a few towns over to get the kittens checked out tomorrow- If they’re strays, I’ll let you name the one we get to keep.”

“You mean the gray one, then.” She hummed, grinning at Kenny. “He’s attached to your hip.”

Kenny blushed, chuckling softly. “Are you okay with that?”

“Mhm! I already have a name picked out, too!” Karen explained cheerfully, and Kenny raised an eyebrow at her curiously.

“Oh, really?” He asked. “What’s the name?”

“I’m not saying!” Karen hummed, giggling and running over to Ashton’s door when his house was in sight. She was already knocking on the door happily when Kenny got there, and Kenny was a little surprised when it was Mrs. Fairweather who opened the door.

“Oh, good evening, kids!” She said cheerfully, sticking a foot out as a black blur came launching from the steps. The black kitten yowled as it ran right into her leg, clawing at the fuzzy sock and hissing angrily. “Come in before this little beast realizes he can just let go and slip outside that way. Karen giggled, scolding the kitten lightly as she skipped inside. Kenny followed closely, keeping an eye on the kitten as he gave Mrs. Fairweather a small nod in greeting.

Ashton came running down the steps a moment later, grinning brightly at Kenny and Karen. “Hey guys! Came to see that cats, huh?”

“Yep! Tonight might be the last time, after all!” Karen said cheerfully.

“Well, I’ll go get the-wha- Hey!” Ashton gasped, quickly catching something that must have started falling down the steps. A startled, offended meow followed the catch, and Kenny laughed as Ashton stood up looking only slightly disheveled as he held the gray tabby in his arms, the cat looking almost like it was pouting. “We told you, no going down the stairs with that limp, mister!” He scolded, and the tabby meowed arrogantly, tail flicking irritably as Ashton carried him the rest of the way down before setting him down. The tabby meowed once more before darting for Kenny and clambering ungracefully up his leg.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Watch the claws!” Kenny laughed, pulling the tabby from his pants and holding him in his arms. The tabby meowed again, nipping at his chin and pushing his head under Kenny’s while purring loudly.

“He really missed you!” Karen laughed, and Mrs. Fairweather agreed as she plucked the black kitten from her ankle and handed him to Ashton.

“We better hope these little guys don’t have a home, because the little gray boy is attached to Kenny’s hip, and this one only actually listens to Ashton.” Mrs. Fairweather chuckled, petting the black kitten. Karen giggled, pointing to Mrs. Fairweather’s feet.

“You’ve got a little follower yourself, ma’am.” She said, and Kenny, Mrs.Fairweather, and Ashton all looked down to see the maine coon sitting quietly beside her feet.

“He _has_ stuck unnaturally close for a kitten.” Ashton commented with a small hum. Ashton’s mom chuckled, nodding.

“You know… cat’s can usually sense things we can’t.” She looked up, smiling almost knowingly at the boys. “Like, say, spirits and sprites.”

Ashton rolled his eyes, nodding slightly in return. “Sure, mom.”

Mrs. Fairweather giggled, smiling brightly. “It’s true! Now if you’ll excuse me, I should go make sure everything’s ready for dinner. Have fun with the cats, kids!”

“Thank you Mrs. Fairweather!” Karen exclaimed happily as Mrs. Fairweather walked into the kitchen, the maine coon following her closely.

When she was gone, Ashton hummed softly. “Would you guys like to go upstairs and play videogames?”

Kenny chuckled softly, nodding. “That sounds like fun! Karen, do you want to do that?”

“Yeah!” Karen giggled, before racing up the steps. Kenny put the tabby down as he started squirming, and the tabby scrambled after Karen, his limp impeding his progress a little.

“So the limp is bad enough he can’t go down the stairs on his own?” Kenny asked as Ashton and he watched the tabby climb the steps. The black kitten hopped out of Ashton’s arms and followed the tabby up the steps patiently, meowing softly in encouragement. Ashton nodded.

“It’s more of a precaution, really. It’s about half and half, and with all the stairs we have, it’s safer just to carry him- especially when he’s excited to see you.”

Kenny laughed softly, shaking his head. “That’s actually rather adorable.”

“Yeah,” Ashton agreed, “He absolutely despises it.”


	28. The First of Many

Kenny and Karen had to leave far too soon for Ashton’s liking.

He was holding both the black kitten and the gray tabby in his arm, waving goodbye to Kenny and his sister as they started down the road back towards their house. He had offered to walk them home, but Kenny had declined. Ashton really wished he hadn’t- unease had been prickling at the back of his neck for the past ten minutes, and watching them leave while the cats in his arms tried to claw their way free and run after the McCormicks, only made it more prominent.

Something bad was going to happen- he could feel it.

Ashton closed the door the moment he couldn’t see them anymore, sighing and setting the cats down. “You can’t follow them- they’ll be fine.” He said sternly, telling both the cats and himself.

“Ashton, is something wrong?”

Ashton frowned as he looked up, seeing his dad in the doorway of the kitchen, a worried crease in brow as the cats ran up to him, meowing frantically.

“Something feels wrong…” Ashton explained, rubbing the back of his neck. “Like, something bad is going to happen.”

“Really?” His dad asked, frowning slightly. “What’s making you feel like that?”

“Um,” Ashton lifted his hand from his neck, pointing at it slightly as he tried to explain just what he was feeling. “Well, it’s sort of like the tingle? But it’s also a gut feeling, I think.”

His dad’s frown deepened, but before he could even open his mouth to say anything else there was a frantic pounding at the door, Karen’s slightly muffled voice shouting along with it.

Ashton tore open the door, letting out a small “Oomph” as Karen collided with his chest and he caught both the tabby and the black cat with his foot to keep them from escaping. “Karen?!”

“Ashton!” She cried, looking up at Ashton with so much panic his heart stopped. “Ashton, you need to—there was—Kenny-!” She broke off, tears welling in her eyes.

“Reya! Reya, come here!”

“What happened, Karen?” Ashton asked, closing the door and pushing the cats back with his foot as he placed his hands on Karen’s shoulders and knelt to look her in the eyes. Karen whimpered, sniffling as she started blabbering; her words jumbling together as she tried to explain what was happening far too fast. “Karen, Karen, you need to slow down, okay? I can’t understand you like that.”

“KENNY’S IN TROUBLE BY THE TRAIN TRACKS!”

Ashton felt panic spike, and he stood up as Reya came to take his place, trying to calm Karen down softly.

“Asher, come with me!” His dad said quickly, and Ashton nodded, already pulling on his shoes and jacket. “Reya, stay here with Karen!”

“Got it! Stay safe, boys!” Reya said, quickly snagging the cats by their scruffs as they once again tried to get out of the house when Ashton opened the door. They meowed unhappily, but Ashton closed the door before they could even try to get outside with Dio and him.

“Train tracks are this why, right?” Dio asked, frowning slightly and pointing in the direction of Kenny’s house.

“Yeah,” Ashton confirmed, and his father nodded once before he grabbed Ashton and ran right into the nearest tree’s shadow.

\----

Kenny should have realized his time without getting killed was getting a _little_ too long, he really should have.

He punched the next hobo in the face, trying not to gag at just how strong the smell of alcohol and drugs was on the man. All of them _reeked_ , and Kenny knew he was vastly outnumbered. He had already knocked one man unconscious, but there were still five other guys and he struggled to keep up with them, considering how they were disturbingly unified for a bunch of run down drunks or druggies.

He grunted as one landed a punch to his stomach, another grabbing his arm and twisting it around behind him. Kenny growled, head butting the man when he got pulled against him. He whirled around as he wrenched his arm free, hopping back a few paces. Movement in the shadows caught his attention, and that was his downfall.

Kenny yelped as he was tackled to the ground; a sharp, familiar pain flaring up his side as the man on top of him dug a knife into his skin up to the hilt. He cried out in pain and struggled to push the man off, knowing it was futile but still refusing to go down without a fight. The man grinned manically, dragging the knife from one hip to the other and effectively working to gut him. Kenny could feel tears welling in his eyes as black spotted his vision, wondering just what he did to deserve such painful deaths almost each and every time.

He closed his eyes when he could feel the strength leaving his arms, accepting that tonight wasn’t going to be a night he survived as he could feel warm, sticky blood starting to form a puddle beneath him and staining the snow. He hoped the blood disappeared soon after they collected his body- he didn’t want Karen to see the bloodstains where her brother died.

“Kenny!”

Kenny’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Ashton’s voice, and he tilted his head further back into the snow, gasping when he saw Ashton and his father running over. “A-Ashton?!”

Well, that’s just great. One of the last people Kenny wanted to see him like this was Ashton, and now he was here watching him be gutted.

The man over him twisted the knife, and Kenny must have blacked out for a second because suddenly Ashton was there, kicking the man in the chin and sending him flying off Kenny.

…. He looked really pretty when he was pissed off.

Kenny’s thoughts were pulled back to the current moment as a hot flash of pain flared up his gut, and he whimpered. Ashton cursed, kneeling neck to him and hands flitting around nervously. He was speaking to Kenny, but Kenny couldn’t really hear anything anymore, his vision falling dark at the edges. He focused instead on the way Ashton’s irises seemed to glow at the edges, the white parts of his hair nearly sparkling in the moonlight. Ashton could have been a porcelain doll, had it not been for the ugly expression on his face.

Kenny’s heart hurt the more he looked at him, wishing he could reach out and wipe the tears from his eyes. He couldn’t feel his arms. Ashton shouldn’t cry over him- he didn’t deserve the tears. Ashton didn’t deserve to see Kenny die again after that first time, during their game last month.

“Hey…” Kenny murmured, trying to get his mouth to work as Death appeared behind Ashton, waiting. He could barely hear himself, the sound ringing dully in his head. Ashton froze, tears spilling from his eyes as he looked at Kenny. Absently, Kenny noticed that he was holding his hand tightly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, alright? It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay!” Kenny couldn’t hear them, but he could read how Ashton screamed the words, panic settling itself into his features. Kenny gave him the best smile as he could, attempted to give his hand a comforting squeeze- he wasn’t sure he accomplished it, and let Death take him.

\-----

There was blood everywhere, and there was such a large gash through Kenny’s abdomen, the knife stuck almost directly beneath the right side of his ribs like the man had been planning on opening up Kenny’s entire torso and Ashton had stopped him halfway through.

Ashton tried to tell him Kenny was able to be saved; that it wasn’t that bad.

“Kenny?”

Ashton waited, hoping it was some sick joke and that Kenny hadn’t just breathed his last breath in his arms. He tapped Kenny’s cheek, afraid to do more than that lest he lose even more blood.    

Kenny didn’t react, and Ashton felt sick to his stomach as his breath formed a lump in his throat. “No…” He whispered, placing a hand on Kenny’s cheek. It was quickly growing cold. “Nononono, Kenny, wake up!”

He hardly registered that he had started screaming, shaking Kenny’s shoulders lightly, begging him to wake up. This couldn’t be happening. Kenny couldn’t be dead, could he?

Ashton wasn’t sure how long he knelt there in the bloody snow, screaming and crying. When he came back to his senses, his legs were numb from cold, his cheeks and nose felt frozen, and his dad’s large hand on his shoulder was the only source of warmth he could currently feel.

“Asher,” Dio began, voice rough and choked like he was trying not to cry himself. “We need to let them know.”

“How are we gonna tell Karen?” Ashton croaked, “Kenny’s practically in their front yard.”

“We’ll figure something out.” His dad said softly, “Come on… We should hurry, before Kenny’s body freezes there.”

Slowly, Ashton nodded and got to his feet, and his dad knelt down, picking Kenny up as gently as he would if he was baby. Ashton nearly started crying again as Kenny’s head lolled onto his father’s shoulder, looking like he was just sleeping if it hadn’t been for the knife under his ribs and blood soaking his clothes.

The rest of the night was a blur, but all Ashton could remember was the overwhelming guilt and the crying- god, was there crying. Karen and Mrs. McCormick had started bawling their eyes out when they found out, and Ashton was pretty sure he had started crying again when he was left alone in his room with only the cats as his company.

\---

Dio bit his lip, looking down at the cup of coffee in his hands.

_I can’t die_

Kenny’s words echoed in his head, and Dio wondered, not for the first time, if they were true. Kenny certainly seemed like he had died earlier tonight- his body had been so cold when Dio picked him up; so light and lifeless.

He shook his head, taking a long drink of coffee. The main coon kitten meowed at him curiously from its place sprawled on the table between Reya and him, and he offered the cat a weak smile before looking at his wife.

She was staring across from her intensely, at the backyard of the house like it held all the answers and tapping a rhythm out on the table with her pale, slender fingers. Idly, Dio remembered the days where if she was thinking so intently about something, she’d dance around in their yard, basking and glowing so beautifully in the moonlight and natural shadows of the night. Dancing helped her think, while singing helped her to forget and push away thoughts she didn’t want to think about at the moment.

She didn’t-- _couldn’t_ \-- do much of either, these days.

“What should we do, Reya?” He asked softly, and Reya sighed, leaning back in her chair and staring at their ceiling. Ashton was upstairs, crying his poor little heart out over his friend with the other two cats. Dio severely regretted bringing Ashton with him- he hadn’t anticipated Kenny dying, or so slowly.

Maybe it wouldn’t have hurt Ashton so much if it had been quick.

“I think we should eat cayenne tonight, to see if that boy really does come back from death.” Reya said with a small sigh, lifting her head and locking her gaze with his. Although they were a gentle, stormy grey now, Dio could still easily see the amethyst they used to be like it was only hours ago that the color faded away. “We should give Ashton chamomile- it’ll be easier on him, and maybe it’ll help lessen the blow each time Kenny dies if he gets the inkling he’ll come back.”

Dio smiled bitterly at his wife, chuckling softly. “I don’t think anything will ever lessen the blow.” He said softly, “But I agree we should work him up to it, without him knowing.”

Reya nodded, standing carefully and walking over to the fridge. She pulled out one of the red peppers, cleaning it before cutting it up into thin strips. “Kenny better come back from the dead.” She stated sternly as Dio stood up and walked to be beside her. Dio chuckled, wrapping an arm lightly around her waist.

“You don’t sound too please.” He commented, snatching one of the pepper slices from the small pile Reya had created. Reya nodded stiffly, frowning as she cleaned the knife.

“I want him to come back from the dead so I can slap him.” She set the knife down to dry, grabbing her own slice of pepper and chomping down on half of the slice in one bite.

Dio chuckled, ruffling her hair as he ate the pepper. She glowered at him, but it had long, long since lost its effect on him- although it had also turned loving on Reya’s end, which gets rid of a good half of the effect. “He has no control over the deaths, you know.”

“Doesn’t matter. He made Ashy cry, which means he gets a slap.”

The main coon meowed in agreement, and Dio looked down as he felt something tug at his jeans. He laughed softly as the kitten climbed steadily up his pants, picking him up after he was high enough and setting him on his shoulder. “This one here agrees with you.” Dio hummed, pointing to the cat.

Reya rolled her eyes, the smile on her face and dry chuckle that left her lips showing she wasn’t actually upset. “These cats certainly are expressive.”

“Well, we _are_ Supernaturals. They probably feel comfortable to be themselves around all of us.”

Reya laughed again, reaching up to scratch under the maine coon’s chin. Dio chuckled as the maine coon began vibrating from its purr. “I think it’s funny how they are already playing favorites.”

“’To each cat, their own compatiable Supernatural.’” Dio recited, grinning down at Reya. “Didn’t you once tell me that?” Reya blushed, laughing shyly as she looked down.

“I was drunk off those stupid herbs of Hekate’s at the time, you dork. I can’t believe you actually remember that and took it to heart.”

Dio chuckled, leaning down to give his wife a gentle kiss. “Well, it’s true, isn’t it? You’ve never said something that wasn’t true.”

Reya huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I say stuff that’s wrong all the time, what are you talking about?”

“You’ve never once been wrong when it concerns your people or Supernaturals.” Dio said softly, running his hand through her hair gently. “Just because you are no longer a ‘true’ nymph, doesn’t make you wrong all of the sudden.”

Reya frowned, looking for the entire world like she didn’t believe him as she nibbled at another slice of pepper. Dio rolled his eyes, snagging another one for himself and eating it quietly. He didn’t like when she got wrapped up in her head over no longer being a nymph- or at least being the one she used to be. She still had her charm and grace, but all the otherworldly- ness of it had disappeared almost completely. Dio liked to believe there was still a little bit of it there, even if she didn’t.

He smiled, coming up with the perfect idea to get her to snap out of her head. He picked her up by the waist, setting her gently on the counter top.

“Okay, let’s see if you can get this one.” Dio cleared his throat, stepping back a few feet and motioning for the maine coon to get off his shoulder. The main coon did as told, hopping down onto the floor gracefully and walking to sit on the floor next to Reya, his head tilted curiously.

Dio turned around for a moment, slumping slightly and placing the back of his hand beneath his nose as he turned back around, sniffling. He acted like he was checking his hand for blood as he lightly swayed on his feet, tilting his head down a bit to act like he was looking up past the brim of a hat. ‘Well, it looks like you’ve got some people ‘round here pretty mad at you, son,” He said, dropping his voice a bit, adding a drawl to it and bringing his hand back up for a moment as he spoke, lightly balling his hand into a loose fist. “But I’m not gonna hit you. I’m not gonna hit you.” He swayed back slightly, pulling his hand back and tightening the fist, “Like hell I’m not!” He swung a punch at the air, acting like he was punching someone right in the face.

Reya giggled and the cat meowed curiously, head tilting even further. Reya clasped her hands in front of her, humming in thought. “Um…. The Mills Brothers?”

“Nope,” Dio grinned, “Try again.”

The maine coon meowed curiously again, as if trying to give an answer. Dio chuckled, smiling at the maine coon. “Perhaps, little one, perhaps. But let’s see if Reya gets it, hm?”

Reya hummed again, a knowing gleam in her eyes. “John Wayne?”

Dio grinned, walking over and giving her another kiss. “You got it! Ready for the next one?” Reya nodded excitedly, and Dio took a few steps back, smiling at her. Maybe tonight had taken a dark turn, but as he stood here in the kitchen with his wife and a cat that seemed to be just as into the game, he had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be alright. Ashton would be smiling, Kenny would return, and they could go back to living life like normal- no grieving a death that never should have happened.

He hoped another death wouldn’t come for a long time, if Kenny did return.


	29. Merry Christmas!

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy holidays from Kenny and Ashton! Sorry there's no chapter today! I'm gonna take a couple days (hopefully no more than a week) off from updating to make sure I've got an idea of where I want to go for this next part of the story, and get a fresh mind on ideas and things to add to the chapters in the future. I don't know, I just kind of burnt out after last chapter, so I kind of need the break. Sorry again for the break in mostly daily chapters ^^' Have these pictures instead!


	30. New Again

When Kenny woke up the next morning, he was safely tucked away in bed, staring up at the ceiling and Kevin having situated himself beside him, sleeping peacefully. Karen must still be in her room, blissfully unaware her big brother had died, just like normal.

Slowly, Kenny ran his hand down his body, feeling the rough patches of scars along the span of his torso. When he reached the skin where the man had started slicing him open, he sighed in relief when he felt fairly smooth skin instead of the rough, uneven and sore skin of a new scar.

“It’s a good thing it didn’t scar, huh?”

Kenny looked over, smiling sadly at Kevin as he sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. Kevin returned the smile, and Kenny sat up with a small grunt a few seconds later. “Yeah, that one wasn’t pleasant.” He agreed, sighing softly.

“Are you feeling up to goin’ to school today?” Kevin asked, looking over Kenny’s chest carefully. “You can stay home if you want; I can call the school and tell them you don’t feel good.”

Although the chance to rest sounded like a wonderful idea, Kenny knew he had far more important things to check up on as Ashton’s terrified expression came to the forefront of his mind.

“No, I’ll go.” He said softly, sighing as he grabbed the sharpie by his bed and marked another tally on the wall. “A little bit of normalcy might do me good.” He stood up from his bed, walking to his closet and pulling on his clothes like normal.

Kevin nodded, sighing as he got to his feet and headed for the door. “Gather yer stuff and come to the kitchen. We’ve got yer favorite poptarts.”

Kenny smiled, getting his school bag and walking out of the room with Kevin. They made their way to the kitchen, quietly slipping past Karen’s room in case she was still asleep. Kenny sat at the table as Kevin grabbed the poptarts from the cupboard, holding the small foil-wrapped treats up and smiling at him. “Want ‘em toaster, or like they are?”

“Either’s fine— you know I like them both ways.”

Kevin let out a little huff at the comment, and Kenny grinned slyly as he tossed Kenny the package. Kenny grinned, opening it and pulling one out. He held out the other one to Kevin, who shook his head.

“Nah, you can have both, Ken. You had a rougher night than the rest o’ us.”

Kenny rolled his eyes, continuing to hold it out. “No, I’m okay with one. You had a rough night, too.”

“Kenny-“

“I’m not fighting you on this, Kev.” He said sternly. When he was younger, he would have jumped at being able to have two poptarts, but now he felt it was much nicer being able to share them with someone. Kenny had a short stare down with his brother for a few minutes, before Kevin sighed and walked over, talking the offered poptart.

Kenny grinned, taking a large bite out of his own breakfast.

“So…” Kevin began after a few minutes of silence. “Ashton’s got my vote.”

Kenny spluttered, nearly choking on his poptart as he stared at his brother. “Pardon?”

Kevin chuckled, smiling morosely as he took a bite out of his own poptart. “Yeah, he really does care about you- a lot more than those other friends o’ yers.”

“H-He does?”

“Well, he _did_ cry, unlike ‘em, and he went running to help, right? He definitely seemed to care more than the others.” Kevin paused for a moment, “Plus his family’s real nice; makin’ us that breakfast and offerin’ to house a cat for us.”

Kenny nodded, blushing slightly even as his stomach twisted a bit as the more pictures of Ashton from the night before flashed in his mind. “Well, it’s not like that, Kev.”

Kevin raised an eyebrow at Kenny, slight confusion in his eyes. “It’s not?”

“No,” Kenny sighed, taking another bite out of his poptart. “Ashton’s just a friend; he may swing closer to my way than you do, but…”

“What, does he have a special person?”

Kenny shook his head, frowning slightly. “He’s never even _talked_ about it. I just don’t think he’s interested in looking for a partner for a night.”

This time it was Kevin turn to splutter and nearly choke. Kenny blinked at him when Kevin calmed down, confused. “What?”

“ _Kenny_!” Kevin hissed, “That’s what—“ He cut off, eyes widening before he slumped back into his chair and groaned, shaking his head. “Oh boy.”

“What?” Kenny asked, still genuinely confused. Yeah, he liked Ashton, but… Kenny didn’t do long-term relationships. Not since he tried dating Tammy when he was in elementary school and it failed 4 silent times over. He probably just had to get the infatuation with Ashton out of his system, and then he’d go back to just… leaving it be in the back of his mind, like he had before. He had been doing so well since their last game to keep his crush as close to puppy love and lust as possible, but the past few days had intensified it to almost terrifying levels for him.

His mind turned back to Ashton practicing on that pole in his basement, then to the way he had glowed in the moonlight the night before. He wondered if his eyes would glow like that for other reasons, or if it was just the moonlight and Kenny’s approaching death that had made him look so ethereal.

He wanted so badly to find out; Kenny was almost certain he was just imagining most of it.

“Nothin’, don’t worry about it.” Kevin said with a sigh, shaking his head. “I think you should give it a try, though. What you find out might surprise you.”

Kenny frowned, staring at Kevin in confusion. What did his brother think was going on between them? An alarm came from down the hall in Karen and Kevin’s room, and Kenny hopped to his feet. “Welp, that’s my cue! I’ll see you later, Kev.”

“See ya, Kenny. Stay safe!” Kevin called as Kenny darted out the door. He quickly made his way to Ashton’s house, biting his lip as he came to a slow stop in front of it. Ashton wouldn’t remember this, right? After all, he had never remembered his death from the town’s last game and zombie invasion.

He tensed when the door to the Fairweather home opened, but his shoulders relaxed all over again when it was Mr. Fairweather who came out instead of Ashton; cat carrier in his hand.

“Good morning, Mr. Fairweather.” Kenny began, walking over to the man as meows came from the cat carrier. “Taking the cats to the vet?”

“Kenny!” Mr. Fairweather said cheerfully, but something in his voice made Kenny pause, and he looked up at the older man’s face. What he saw shocked him.

Mr. Fairweather looked incredibly relieved as he spoke next, “Glad to see you up and walking. Ashton would have been heartbroken to find out you were dead.” His voice was no louder than a whisper, but it almost sounded like a shout to Kenny, his heart nearly stopping in his chest and killing him again right there.

“I—“ Kenny’s mouth opened on its own, voice cracking as he spoke without even knowing what to say. “Wh— Y-You— You remember…?”

Ashton’s father simply smiled, giving Kenny a wink as he placed the carrier on the back seat beside another one and Ashton came out the door with the third and final carrier. Kenny gulped, his heart pounding in his chest as Ashton gave him a bright smile with no recognition of Kenny’s near gutting the night before in his eyes.

“Hey Ken! Dad said he’d take us to school today, since it’s on the way out of town.” Ashton explained happily as he set the carrier into the back seat and his dad closed the door.

“Oh, okay.” Kenny said quickly, an odd mix of relief and disappointment twisting his stomach into knots as it easily became clear that Ashton remembered nothing from Kenny’s death the night before.

He got into the car with Ashton and his father, falling quiet as Mr. Fairweather drove them. The cats meowing in the back were pretty much the only sound in the car, everyone content to stay in the silence.

Kenny liked it; the silence giving him a chance to think over what he just learned. Why did Mr. Fairweather suddenly remember his deaths? Was it because he had told Mr. and Mrs. Fairweather about it when Ashton had collapsed and they were mentioning all those herbs and stones? He wasn’t sure, but… knowing someone else knew about his curse and could remember him dying was oddly reassuring.

He wished his stomach didn’t twist so painfully over Ashton not remembering, though.

\---

When Kenny finished with his homework and knew he wasn’t going to be needed for a bit by the Freedom pals, he went to visit Ashton.

As he walked up the steps, Kenny felt anxiety and apprehension twist in his gut. How would Mrs. Fairweather react to seeing Kenny? If Mr. Fairweather remembered, so did she, right?

When the door opened Kenny squared his shoulders a bit, giving Ashton’s mother a shy smile as she opened the door. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Fairweath— Whoa!” Kenny yelped as he was suddenly grabbed and pulled close, eyes widening from the strength of Mrs. Fairweather’s grasp. He thought Ashton said she wasn’t as strong as she used to be?

“Don’t you _ever_ let that happen again, you hear me?” She said softly into his shoulder, squeezing even tighter. Kenny gulped, suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed and a pressure beginning to grow behind his eyes the longer the hug went on.

“I’m sorry. I don’t really have control over it, though….” Kenny admitted softly, and Mrs. Fairweather let out a tearful laugh.

“I figured,” She admitted, finally letting Kenny go and taking a step back as she wiped her eyes a little bit. Kenny not-so-subtly did the same with his own sleeve as she continued, “But that doesn’t mean the feelings aren’t the same. I’m glad you’re back, Kenny, and I really hope you don’t let this happen again.”

Kenny nodded, swallowing around a lump in his throat, “I’ll try not to, ma’am.” He said softly, wincing slightly as his voice cracked. Mrs. Fairweather smiled kindly, finally ushering Kenny into the home.

“Well, come inside, I’ll make something warm for you to drink. You came when Ashton was practicing again- do you want me to tell him you’re here, or do you want to go downstairs and say hi?”

Kenny’s stomach immediately filled with butterflies. The thought of seeing Ashton practicing again and seeing him sweaty; stretching in ways Kenny didn’t even know were possible and causing Kenny to fall even further into his feelings invading his mind. “I can go downstairs and say hi.” He said almost immediately; Mrs. Fairweather smiled, the look in her eyes making Kenny feel like he was a little too telling in his reaction.

“Well then, head on down.” Kenny nodded, wasting no time in rushing to the basement and heading downstairs.

Like before, music was playing just loud enough to drown out background noise; but this time Ashton wasn’t just stretching and twisting his body around the pole like he was water. Kenny watched, mesmerized, as Ashton spun around on the pole as he moved; his legs swinging to flawlessly open into a ‘V’ above his head, the large expanse of black that covered Ashton’s back and the stripe and swirls of it in a small, almost flame-like shape along a lightly toned arm.

Quickly, Ashton hooked his knee around the pole, twisting around and bringing himself upright as he adjusted his grip. Kenny watched as Ashton moved himself to be straight; body slightly away from the pole as he held his hands close together and spun around to pick up more speed. Ashton slowly moved his hands apart, turning around so that his back was to the pole. He lifted his legs out again, bringing them up and over so he could hook his right knee around the pole again, only this time he pressed close to the pole and hooked his left ankle lower on the pole.

He grabbed his right ankle, leaning back and arching his back as he spun around. Kenny bit his lip as Ashton straightened his spine and grabbed above his knee, leaning into the spin and causing the pole to move a bit faster as he unhooked his knee only to curl around the pole with his side and crook of his left knee being the only things keeping him up on the pole.

Just as fluidly, Kenny watched as Ashton twisted around while grabbing above with his left hand and below his body with his right to cage in his right leg; straightening it out as he let go of the pole with his left hand and leg. He slipped down the pole slightly as Ashton reached around with his left hand and grabbed his left foot as he carried it back. He stayed like that for a while; just spinning while stretching in that position.

[ ](http://ibb.co/coeEWm)

When he was done with that, though, Kenny watched as Ashton let go of his foot and instead grabbed above his body again, tucking himself as close to the pole as he could while straightening his legs and bringing his right arm up to rest on his outstretched right leg and practically doing the splits in midair. Kenny felt heat rush to his face, gulping slightly as he mapped each small detail he could.

 _Shit_ , Kenny thought, biting the inside of his cheek as Ashton continued to move and stretch in ways that were making him dizzy from blood rushing in two totally different directions, _I’m way too far gone_.

“Ken, are you just going to stand there, or…?” Kenny jumped slightly as he was addressed, snapping his gaze up from Ashton’s crotch—Oh no, when had his gaze locked _there?!_ —and to Ashton’s face. Turns out, Ashton face when it was flushed and sweaty hair was sticking to his face and neck had a very similar reaction to Kenny as Ashton effectively moved and stretched in ways that were, quite frankly, not actually _meant_ to be sexy, did; which is to say that Kenny’s face turned bright red and he was almost certain his pants grew a bit tighter in about .02 seconds.

“Right!” Kenny said quickly, voice just a tiny bit louder than it needed to be as he hopped down the rest of the steps, “I have something I wanted to tell you about!” He explained, and Ashton nodded.

“Okay, give me a few more seconds here, I’m almost done.”

 _No arguments here_ , Kenny thought, gaze trailing over Ashton’s body once again before he mentally slapped himself and told himself to focus.

Ashton flipped off the pole, landing on the crash mats placed at the base of the pole. His chest glistened from sweat and Kenny wondered if this is how girls felt when they drooled over hot guys after PE class, because Kenny could practically _taste_ his libido increase as Ashton walked over to the speakers in the corner and Kenny caught a look at Ashton’s back.

It wasn’t quite spotless, but Kenny didn’t care; Ashton’s back was a thousand times prettier than his own. Ashton’s shoulder blades were scattered with small, pale dots of scars and his lower back was coated in a black tattoo in a shape and design he had never seen before; a diamond shape with the left and right points connecting to rib-like shapes that pointed outwards, the entire thing connected together with a circle. The bottom third of the tattoo dipped into his pants, placed neatly into the small of his back. It shined a dark, midnight blue under the basement lights, small beads of sweat trailing down it.

“Where’d you get those tattoos?” He asked, making Ashton nearly jump out of his skin.

Ashton looked over his shoulder, glancing down like that might help him see what Kenny was talking about. “Oh! Just, uh, some random tattoo parlor in my old town.” He said quickly, and Kenny’s brain may have been going off on a very far off tangent, but he knew Ashton was lying just by the way his confident, carefree tone wavered as he spoke.

Kenny grinned slyly, raising an eyebrow at him curiously. “Oh really?”

Ashton’s cheeks colored just a little more, eyes quickly going back to his phone as he turned off the music and unplugged it from the speakers. “Yeah; it was a nice little place right next to a café.”

“And why’d you want to get this symbol on your back?”

“It’s just a design I made up.” Ashton explained quickly, shrugging as he grabbed the shirt off to the side and quickly slipped it on over his head. He tucked the back of the shirt in; Kenny was a little sad to see the black designs disappear under the cloth.

Kenny could feel that that wasn’t quite the truth, but he didn’t press it any further- if Ashton didn’t want to tell him what was going on, he didn’t have to. “Well, it’s pretty cool.” Kenny smiled at Ashton, slinging an arm over Ashton’s shoulders. “You should show ‘em off more.”

Ashton smiled, but Kenny could tell he had something wrong by how it didn’t reach his eyes like his smiles usually did. “Anyway,” He began, biting his lip nervously, “I was talking with BeBe, and she mentioned that the cheerleaders need a new member because one of the girls broke her leg and is out for the season.”

“Really?”

Kenny grinned; Ashton was definitely interested, if the way his smile turned genuine almost immediately and his eyes sparkled were any indication.

“Yep! And BeBe didn’t get the chance to tell you yet, but she would _love_ if you tried out.”

Ashton laughed, ducking out of Kenny’s hold and starting towards the stairs. “Sure thing!” He agreed cheerfully, “It’d be nice being on a cheer team again.”

“You were on a cheer team?” Kenny asked, walking over to follow Ashton upstairs. Ashton nodded, smiling bright at Kenny.

“Mhm. It was actually pretty fun.”

“Well, our cheer team sucks, so…”

Ashton laughed again, shrugging. “The girls are nice, and it’s never too late to improve!”

Kenny chuckled, thinking back to the last game the cheer team had tried to cheer on. “No, I mean they _really_ suck; I think BeBe and probably Red are the only truly experienced girls on the team; Nicole knows a thing or two as well.”

“And the others?” Ashton asked, glancing over his shoulder as they made their way into the kitchen.

“Uh, well,” Kenny bit the inside of his cheek, trying to think of what to say, “They don’t normally break each other’s bones, for sure.”

Ashton paused, turning to look at Kenny with a raised eyebrow. “…Is that honestly the best thing you can say about them?”

“Afraid so.”

“Oh my god,” Ashton chuckled, shaking his head. “Well, if I were to make it onto the team, I’m sure I’d be able to help them improve at least a little bit. I don’t actually know how they do things here, so it’ll definitely be an experience.”

“I wouldn’t worry about making it onto the team or not, though,” Kenny hummed, “Bebe and Red really want you there.”

“What’s this about Ashton joining some sort of team?” Mrs. Fairweather asked, walking over to Kenny and Ashton with two mugs of hot chocolate in her hands. Kenny took the one she offered him as Ashton very quickly explained what Kenny told him; content to watch as Ashton’s face lit up with excitement. Ashton’s mom quickly expressed similar excitement, a grin of her own appearing.

“That’s great! When are the try outs?”

“Tomorrow after school,” Kenny explained, smiling as he took a sip of his drink. “He should head there after classes end, and he’ll have to stay for an hour or two, I think. Lots of girls try out for the team, usually, but only a few ever make it.”

“How many members do they have, exactly?” Ashton’s mom asked, resting against the kitchen counter and crossing her arms over her chest.

Kenny shrugged, trying to recall all the faces he had seen on the team. “I don’t know, like 10? The girls in this town are not the best at cheerleading once they reach a certain age, I’m afraid.”

“What, they decide it was too much work?”

“Pretty much, yeah; or they just weren’t good enough to stay on and not constantly get hurt.” Kenny admitted, smiling weakly. “This town just kind of sucks the life and skill out of you.”

Ashton chuckled, sipping at his own drink. “Believe me, we noticed.”

Kenny nodded, about to say something else about the cheer team, but the sound of the front door opening and a loud meow caught Kenny’s attention.

“Good news, everyone!” Mr. Fairweather’s voice rang out, followed shortly by a meow. “We’ve just adopted three new cats!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I just want to tell you something really quick! I'm not going to be doing day to day chapters anymore- at least not for a little while. I loved doing it but it left little time to making sure I was adding plot points and staying consistent, and I just kind of burned out after the last chapter, which is why it's taken nearly a month to get this next one out to you. 
> 
> I'll give every other day chapters a shot, see how that goes, but right now I'm thinking this is going to end up getting updated once or twice a week if I don't feel the chapter is ready to share just yet. 
> 
> But either way; I'm back! The story is going to start picking up again soon, and will be getting updates again! Thank you for the patience and support!


	31. Gaining Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the wait! I've got some announcements at the end of this chapter (sorry there are so many of those lately ^^') that I think you'll enjoy hearing about! Stay tuned, and hope you enjoy this monster of a chapter!

Ashton smiled at his dad, rushing over to take the carrier from him as he entered the room. “Don’t you mean two?” He scolded playfully, setting the carrier beside the door and opening it up. The maine coon darted from the carrier and into the kitchen, and his mom let out a short yelp as the cat careened into her. “After all, Kenny and his family get one!”

Dio laughed, coming in with the other two carriers. “Yes, yes, that’s true. Speaking of that, though,” Ashton’s father looked up at Kenny as he walked into the room, grinning at the blond. “Which cat would you like?”

“Tabby,” Kenny said quickly, “Definitely the tabby.”

Ashton chuckled, opening the carrier door for the tabby and watching as the cat darted to Kenny’s side. Kenny chuckled, picking him up and holding him close, “Just curious, but did the vet say anything about his limp?”

“The best the vet thinks is that he was probably born with it. There was no sign of a break healed wrong or other trauma to the leg.” Dio explained, walking over to Reya and giving her a kiss on the forehead. He murmured softly to her; too quietly for Ashton and Kenny to hear, but Ashton already had a feeling he knew what it was simply by the uncertain worry in his eyes.

“Alright, well, I promised your mom that she could name one of the ones that we’re keeping,” Dio chuckled, looking at Ashton with a bright smile, “So which one do you want to name, Ashton?”

Ashton grinned, opening the final carrier and pulling out the black kitten within. “This one!” He said happily, giggling as the kitten nudged at his chin. “And his name shall be Beelzebub.”

“Beelzebub?” Kenny asked, smiling teasingly at Ashton, “Isn’t that like, another name for the devil or something?”

Ashton nodded, smiling at Kenny. “His name shall be Beasley, for short.”

“He _is_ a little devil.” Ashton’s mom agreed, smiling as well. “I think it fits him very well.”

“Oh, I have no doubt in my mind about that.” Kenny agreed readily, “He’s a little bastard is what he is.”

As if to prove Kenny’s point, the newly-dubbed Beasley hissed at him, looking for all the world far too smug in Ashton’s arms. Kenny hissed right back; making Ashton laugh softly.

Kenny was cute when he acted like that.

_…Wait—_

Before Ashton could think over the thought that passed through his head, his mom was childishly holding up the maine coon, grinning at the others. “Well, _this_ handsome boy is going to be named Rowan!” She announced cheerfully, the maine coon looking extremely proud over his new name as he meowed his agreement; all the boys chuckled.

Kenny looked down at the tabby in his arms, humming thoughtfully. “Well, looks like you’re the last to be named! I’ll ask Karen what she wants to name you when I get home.” The tabby meowed in agreement, and as Kenny smiled down at the tabby Ashton was once again stuck by how nice it was to see Kenny smile so brightly.

He wondered how easy it would be to get Kenny to smile like that, himself.

\----

“Umbra! How’s it going, man?”

“Hey Toolshed,” Umbra replied politely as he descended the stairs into the Freedom Pals base. “To answer your question, my family just adopted two cats and will be cat-sitting a third.”

“What’s this about cats?” Tupperware asked, walking out of the training room and dabbing at his face with a towel. “Oh, hey there, Umbra.”

“Hi Tupperware,” Umbra greeted with a small smile as Toolshed explained what they were talking about.

“Remember those three cats Mysterion saved from the explosion a week or two ago? Umbra’s officially taken them in.”

“Oh, that’s good!” Tupperware exclaimed, “It’d suck for them to just be taken again when we weren’t looking.”

Umbra chuckled, nodding in agreement. “Yeah, they are going to be under house arrest until this whole ordeal is solved. Speaking of which, what are we going to be doing until the police station raid tomorrow?”

“Well, thing is, we still can’t trust you as much as we’d like.” Toolshed explained, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, we’re thinking you come with us to do some more missions- starting with reconnaissance with Wonder Tweek.”

“Fair enough,” Umbra agreed with another chuckle, “And after that?”

“You’ll be helping me and Toolshed out with some information gathering of a different kind. Then you’ll have night patrol with Mysterion.”

Umbra nodded, thinking over how he could figure out who was the supernatural while doing things with the Freedom Pals “Nothing with Doctor Timmothy?”

“He’s busy with his work, and _won’t_ be disturbed.” A new, familiar and gruff voice said from the stairs. Umbra turned, an easy smile slipping onto his face as he took in the small scowl on the other hero’s face. Mysterion’s scowl deepened slightly, but it barely phased Umbra, already used to it.

“What is he working on, anyway?” Umbra asked as Mysterion passed him to stand guard at the curtains separating Timmy from the rest of the base.

“You don’t have that level of clearance yet.” Mysterion huffed. Umbra shrugged, accepting the reason with ease. He didn’t particularly care either way- he had more pressing concerns to deal with.

“Alright, well, is there a place I need to meet Wonder Tweek at, or is he still busy?” Umbra asked, turning back to Toolshed and Tupperware.

“Meet him outside Tweek Bros coffee. He’s going to be busy for a while longer, but he’ll be out quick as he can.”

“I can help him in the shop, then.” Umbra hummed, grinning slightly. “It’s not too hard, and it’ll be done faster.”

“Whatever floats your boat,” Tupperware shrugged, “Just get going soon- the day waits for no one.”

Umbra chuckled, nodding. “Alright-y then, guess I’ll get going now.” He hummed, already heading back towards the stairs. “I’ll see you guys later!”

After getting short murmurs of agreements, Umbra made his way up the stairs, slipping into the shadows at the small part of the stairway that didn’t get any light. When he came back out of the shadows, he was just outside Token’s home, and Umbra started heading for Tweek Bros. Coffee.

When he got to the coffee shop he walked in, smiling brightly at Tweek’s parents before heading into the back of the shop. “Hey, Tweek! Heard you might need some help.”

“Gah!” Tweek jumped, startled, and nearly splashed coffee all over himself from the small tasting cup in his hand as he whirled around to face Umbra. “Umbra! What are you doing here?!”

“Sorry!” Umbra exclaimed quickly and slightly overlapping Tweek’s response, “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He added after Tweek asked his question. “I was just thinking you could use some help instead of dealing with me just standing around outside waiting for you.”

“Well, I just need to finish these, uh, taste tests, and then we can go.” Tweek said quickly, frowning down at the small paper cup in his hand.

Umbra hummed, sitting down in front of him. “Want some help?”

Tweek looked at him with a slightly amused, questioning smile. “You’d be willing to drink my parents’ crappy meth-laced coffee just so we can go on reconnaissance?”

“ _Hell_ , yes. You’ve been at this for a long time, right?”

“Well, yes, but-“ Tweek paused, thinking it over for a few minutes before shaking his head. “You aren’t going to help me with this, Umbra. You hate this coffee and I cannot in good conscious let you drink it just so we get out of here faster.” He said, giving Umbra a stern look. Umbra chuckled slightly, holding up his hands in surrender.

“If you say so,” He agreed, smiling slightly in amusement. “But seriously, are you _su_ -“

“YES!”

“Just making sure!” Umbra laughed, lightly sitting down on the stacked boxes Tweek was leaning against. They were quiet the rest of the time they were in the store, giving Tweek the peace he needed in order to finish taste testing his parents’ coffee. Umbra silently sighed, grabbing the shadows of boxes and starting to twist it around into different shapes when he was sure Tweek wasn’t paying attention.

As he played around with the shadows, he thought of how to breach the topic of powers and the possibility of Tweek having actual powers, himself, without completely giving away any more than necessary- or anything at all, if he could help it.

He wished he had focused more on the other freedom pals when fighting Mysterion; if he had, he might have had a better chance of knowing who the Supernatural was.

It could be Timmy— in fact, chances are it _was_ Timmy. Still, something about that didn’t sit well with him; it didn’t sound right.

Timmy was certainly special, but the more Umbra thought about it, the more he felt that Timmy wasn’t the Supernatural he was looking for. Like Umbra was supposed to be looking for a specific one, not just any that he came across.

Movement in the corner of his eye caused Umbra to quickly disperse the shadows in his hands, instead moving to act like he was examining the chipped polish on his nails. He looked at Tweek, smiling slightly. “Ready to go, Tweek?”

“Give me five minutes, tops!” Tweek grinned, getting to his feet. “Meet me outside, okay?”

“Got it,” Umbra gave Tweek a thumbs up, standing and heading for the door. He gave Mr. and Mrs. Tweak a curt nod as he passed before heading outside to wait.

Five minutes later on the dot and Umbra was joined by Wonder Tweek outside the coffee shop, and they made their way towards the police station.

“So, tell me, Wonder Tweek, just what are we going to be doing on this reconnaissance mission?”

“Well, the plan is that one of us goes in and distracts the policemen while the other one scopes out the scene.” Wonder Tweek explained, walking with Umbra towards the police station. Umbra nodded, biting his lip a little nervously.

He and the police did _not_ have that great of a relationship after his last visit. He had refused to arrest Token’s father, and the police chief and some of his right hand men got extremely upset over it.

So, Umbra was basically an unwanted guest in the police station now.

“Well, which one are you going to be most comfortable with?” Umbra asked, and Tweek frowned in thought.

“I mean, both of them are pretty nerve-wracking.” Wonder Tweek admitted with a nervous laugh. “Which do you think would be less pressure inducing?”

“Stealth,” Umbra said almost instantly. As much as he was nervous about showing his face in front of the police again, he had to admit that Tweek would have far less of a chance of an attack of some sort if he was doing the stealth part of the mission. “For one thing, you’ll have a little less of a think-on-your-feet situation if I was to, say, get stuck somewhere for one reason or another.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Tweek agreed, frowning slightly in thought. “Mysterion said you’d be pretty good at stealth though, being a shadow manipulator and all, so don’t you think you should…?”

“I’ll do whatever you think you can trust me best with while also trusting yourself with your task, Tweek. I’ll keep you safe while you scope out the area, and I’d also do my best to gather as much information as possible and be quick about it so that you don’t end up seeming suspicious.”

Tweek nodded, lost in thought as he debated what to chose. Umbra let him think, instead just focusing on how to go about either option. If he did the stealthy part, he’d just work his way down from the top of the station with his shadows, and if he was going to enter the station as the distraction, well… a chase scene is pretty distracting.

“Then you distract the cops. Do you have the communicator ready?” Wonder Tweek asked as they closed in on the police station. Umbra nodded, smiling slightly at Wonder Tweek.

“Yep. By the way, where exactly are you going to be checking?”

“Just the upper and lower levels, if I can. We’ve already checked out the main level of the station.”

“Got it.” Umbra nodded, smiling slightly. “Well then, I think a warning is needed—I’m going to be making quite the mess on the main level; they hate me.”

“They do?”

“I refused to help arrest Token’s family.”

Tweek’s eyes widened slightly, looking at Umbra shocked. “Wait, they were trying to arrest Token and his family? Why?”

“They’re calling his dad the crime boss of the town and I refuse to believe it.”

“Token’s father isn’t a crime boss!” Tweek gasped, before pausing, eyes widening and jaw dropping slightly. “Wait, _you_ were our police lead?”

Umbra blinked in surprise from his words, thinking about it for a few minutes before shrugging. “I guess so.” He laughed, smiling a little. “Didn’t think my warning would be used as a lead though; I was incredibly vague.”

“Still! You save Token’s dad from getting taken; thank you!”

Umbra could feel heat flooding to his cheeks and he laughed nervously, quickly looking away in embarrassment. “Please, it’s not that big of a deal… you guys would have protected him either way, I’m sure.”

Before Wonder Tweek could continue arguing the importance of Umbra’s actions, they were at the entrance to the Police Station and Umbra used that as a chance to get away from the topic.

“Okay, so what’s your plan to get in?” Umbra asked, to which Tweek hummed in thought, frowning slightly as he examined the building.

“That’s… actually a good question.” Wonder Tweek admitted when he couldn’t see any way up to the upper levels of the police station from the outside. They circled the building again, and Tweek’s frown only deepened “Wow, they don’t even have a fire escape? Odd.”

Umbra chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, uh… I’ve got a way in, if you promise to keep it a secret.”

“Oh god, a _secret_?” Tweek tensed at that, looking at Umbra nervously. “Are you sure I can handle it?”

 _Maybe_ , Umbra thought, shrugging helplessly as he looked away sheepishly. “I mean, I’ll probably have to tell the other Freedom Pals at some point, and I guess you can talk about it with Craig and Mysterion, but... yeah, I can trust you to keep it.”

At the mention of Craig and Kenny, Tweek let out a relieved sigh, although he still looked unsure. “A-Are you sure I can…?”

“You’ve kept Wonder Tweek a secret for years, right?” Umbra explained softly, chuckling slightly as he motioned idly to himself. “Why not this?”

“True….” Wonder Tweek murmured, thinking about it a bit longer. After a few minutes he nodded, smiling at Umbra. “Right; let’s do this!”

Umbra grinned, taking his wrist and pulling Wonder Tweek around behind police department, where there were no police officers around to see them. “Okay, this is going to be pretty weird, but just hold onto my hand and you’ll be fine.”

“Wait, what do you mean…?”

“Just watch, okay?” Umbra assured before pulling Tweek into their shadows against the wall of the building.

Wonder Tweek yelped as they entered the shadows, eyes wide as he looked around. “W-Where are we?!”

“Welcome to what I like to call, the “Shadow Realm”.” Umbra announced, grinning at Wonder Tweek as he led him through to the upper levels of the police station. “We’re in the shadows of the building right now.”

“Wait so you have an actual power?!” Wonder Tweek exclaimed. Umbra nodded, chuckling slightly.

“Yep! And at least one person in this town has one as well.” He explained, “Although I don’t know who that is.”

“It’s not Doctor Timothy?”

“Maybe; Like I said, I have no idea who it is.” Umbra chuckled, stopping in front of one of the upper level shadows. “Anyway, after I drop you off up here, I’ll head back down to the main level and start the distraction. Will you be able to make it downstairs without my help?”

Wonder Tweek nodded, “I’ve got some tricks up my sleeves.”

Umbra laughed, hoping through the shadow and pulling Tweek through with him. “Let me know when you need to get out; I’ll be there faster than you can say Freedom Pals.”

“You better be!” Wonder Tweek scolded easily, “We need to be able to trust you!”

“And you will! I swear.” Umbra promised, crossing his fingers over his heart. “Anyway, mission start in three,” As he spoke, Umbra stepped back towards the shadow, dropping back down into the shadows. “Two,”

When Umbra stepped back out of the shadows, he was in a hidden corner of the main floor, watching the policemen working and wandering around the level. “One.” He whispered into the communicator. He stood up a second later, catching the police chief’s attention.

“Hey, it’s that kid again!” He shouted, pointing at Umbra.

“Afternoon, boys!” Umbra said cheerfully, waving, “I was just passing by and wondered if I could possibly, y’know, stop worrying about—whoa!”

Umbra ducked as an officer pointed his gun at him and shot, just barely missing him. Umbra could feel his heart in his throat, pounding violently in his chest. That was _way_ too close. “I’ll take that as a no!” He shouted, coming out from around the desk he was hiding behind. The officers near him charged for him and Umbra quickly dodged, using one of their backs as a spring board to get over the others going after him. “You guys are _terrible_ cops!”

“Get him!”

“Uh-oh,” Umbra quickly started dancing around the policemen as they charged for him, doing his best to dodge bullets as well. “Hey, hey! Don’t use those in here!” He gasped, yelping as another cop shot at him and the bullet hit one of their co-workers instead. “You’ll kill each other at this rate!”

“Then stop moving and we won’t miss!” The Chief snapped, “You idiots, stop messing around and grab him!”

The nearest cop to him ran forward, moving to punch Umbra. Umbra jumped back, kicking the cop in the stomach before grabbing his arm and throwing him into one of the desks. Someone grabbed Umbra by the arms, shocking Umbra for a moment. Umbra growled, swinging his legs up before bringing them back down on the guys abdomen as hard as he could.

The cop shouted in pain, dropping Umbra’s arms. Umbra used the chance to drop into his shadow, quickly appearing behind one of the cops using their gun and hitting the pressure points on the back of his neck to make him fall unconscious.

The fight went on like this for what felt like forever, the cops refusing to give up and steadily getting smarter with their shots. None had actually managed to hit Umbra yet, but they definitely stopped hitting their colleagues and were getting pretty close to hitting Umbra.

“Umbra, we need to get out of here, _now_!” Wonder Tweek’s voice filtered through the communicator, “This is _way_ worse than we thought, man!”

Umbra bit his lip, worry settling in the pit of his stomach. What did Wonder Tweek find?

“SPOOK!!!”

Umbra gasped, body moving on autopilot as he grabbed the shadow of the computer he was next to and stretched it out to deflect the bullet. He winced as it bounced off the shadow and grazed his arm instead, tearing through the cloth of his jacket and cutting though skin like a burning knife. He didn’t even give himself time to think of the consequences of his actions, using the same shadow to slip into the shadow realm and getting to Tweek’s shadow.

“Wonder Tweek, let’s go!” Umbra said quickly when he popped out of Tweek’s shadow.

“AH!!!” Tweek screamed, jumping about ten feet in the air and whirling around to face Umbra, electricity sparking around his fingers in the corner of Umbra’s eyes. If Umbra wasn’t currently running on pure adrenaline, he’d be focusing way more on what he just saw.

“Umbra! Don’t do that!” Wonder Tweek hissed, lightly shoving Umbra’s arm. “It’s creepy enough down here!”

“Sorry, but we really need to go!” Umbra grabbed Tweek’s wrist, pulling him into the shadows of the nearby vending machine.

\----

“What’s taking them so long?” Toolshed huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Mysterion, you said it wouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes after Tweek finished work!”

Mysterion sighed, leaning against the wall beside Doctor Timothy’s workspace. “No, what I said was that if _Umbra_ was the one doing the stealth, it wouldn’t take very long.”

“Should we go check on them?” Tupperware asked, “I mean, it _has_ been a long time, even by Tweek standards.”

“I’m sure they’re fine!” Professor Chaos said from the bottom steps, “I mean, Ashton and Tweek are pretty good fighters, right? Nothing could stop them!”

“Professor, not to be rude or anything, but why are you still here?” Toolshed sighed, frowning at the villain. “Have you decided to be good?”

“Just for now, ‘cause I hate the Coon Friends!” Professor Chaos explained proudly. “Then I’ll go right back to bein’ evil and we can be enemies again!”

“We never actually made a truce to begin with, Chaos.”

“Oh,” Chaos frowned, looking down at the ground for a moment before looking back over at Toolshed, “Well, uh, do you want to…?”

Before Toolshed could respond the door leading down to the base slammed open; Wonder Tweek and Umbra nearly tumbling down the steps and into Professor Chaos, who yelped and jumped out of the way quickly.

“We’ve got a Code Green!” Wonder Tweek shouted, “And a Code Red!” Mysterion felt his entire body tense at the idea of something weird going on in the police station, but before he made to move towards the table where Wonder Tweek was already rushing for the blueprints they had, he noticed Umbra walking towards the table more slowly, one of his hands reaching up and wrapping around his bicep.

His eyes met Umbra’s, and the shadow manipulator’s tired, unsure expression quickly morphed into his usual smirk. “What? Cat got your tongue there, Mysterion?”

Mysterion rolled his eyes, striding towards the table to see what Tweek was going on about.

“Upstairs in the holding cells are _tons_ of people; all the missing families, even! Well, the African American ones at least.” Tweek explained, pointing at the upper levels. “There was someone else in the same room as the Chief’s desk, but they were in one of the isolation chambers.”

“I _knew_ those cops weren’t to be trusted!” Tupperware huffed, eyebrows furrowing as he looked at the map.

“Well you can trust them to be terrible shots, if that’s anything.” Umbra chuckled weakly, seeming to stifle a yawn.

“They aren’t even our biggest problem!” Tweek exclaimed, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “The biggest problem is in the basement; some kind of- of _creature_!” Tweek tapped a few buttons on his phone before the big screen tv behind them turned on and a picture showed up on screen.

Mysterion felt a growl build in his throat as he looked at the picture, Umbra let out a soft gasp beside him.

“ _Caring for your_ Elder God?!” Toolshed exclaimed. “What the hell are our police doing?!”

“That’s not all!” Tweek flicked to the next photo, this one of some sort of food diagram and health symptoms.

“White meat? Dark meat? What—“ Tupperware gasped, jaw dropping, “Oh, _no_ freaking way. They can’t be—“

As if knowing what Tupperware was about to ask, Tweek flicked through two more photos, landing on a picture of people dressed in robes pushing people into a pit. Mysterion felt his anger build in his chest, and he whirled to face the others. “We need to stop them- they can’t keep doing that!”

“We can’t go tonight, though!” Tupperware growled, the anger directed towards the pictures. “We need to be prepared to face an Elder God!”

“Then let’s move the attack up a day; go tomorrow, when the town is asleep.” Umbra suggested. “What kind of information gathering where you and Toolshed going to do?” He asked, looking up at the Freedom Pals. “Maybe we can get Call Girl to work on that, while we figure out just how to go about getting into the police station and killing that thing before any more innocent people are arrested.”

\----

They spent the rest of the afternoon planning how to attack the station, and even as they all split up to go home, Kenny was certain that none of them were all that confident in their plan. The pictures Tweek had managed to get were helpful, but not to the point they could come up with a solid plan that they _knew_ would work.

All Kenny knew for certain, was that the police department had none of the herbs or stones that were going to harm Ashton and him. Tweek said he had carefully checked everywhere, and there wasn’t anything throughout the entire station. Even Umbra had assured that he hadn’t felt anything, although when asked about it he seemed a nervous about something.

Now, though, Kenny was bringing Karen with him to Ashton’s, so she could finally announce the tabby’s name. He felt a little nervous as they crossed the train tracks, eyes darting around to keep an eye out for anyone who might attack them. He’d really like to make it home from Ashton’s place in one piece, please.

When they got to the door, Kenny didn’t even have to knock before it was being opened by Ashton, the tabby and Beasley both squirming around in his arms. “Hey, saw you coming up the pathway.” Ashton greeted, closing the door behind Kenny and Karen before setting down the cats. Karen squealed, scooping up the tabby when it came over to her.

“I can’t believe we get to keep a cat!” Karen exclaimed, hugging the tabby close. “Can I come over to see him often, Ashton?”

“’Course you can!” Ashton assured, eyes sparkling with mirth, “He’s your cat as well as Kenny’s!” Kenny chuckled as Karen cheered before went running into the kitchen to say hello to Ashton’s parents, leaving the boys all by their lonesome.

“Thanks again for letting us keep one of the cats.” Kenny said with a small hum, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at Ashton. Ashton shrugged, bringing a hand up to his mouth and yawning softly before chuckling.

“You don’t need to thank us, Kenny. You saved the cats, it’s only right you can keep at least one of them.” Ashton explained.

Kenny sighed, “I know, but it just feels like something I should thank you for; especially since he’s staying mainly at your house.” He paused for a moment, biting his lip as he glanced at the kitchen, where Karen was excitedly talking to Reya and Dio. “Are you going to be able to go on patrol with me in a few hours?”

Ashton nodded, smiling at Kenny. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” He assured, chuckling again. “I just traveled with Tweek one too many times to stop myself from being just a little tired.”

Ashton’s words made Kenny blink in surprise, “Tweek knows?”

“Yep,” Ashton nodded, humming slightly as he made his way towards the kitchen. “It was the only way to get him inside undetected.”

“Makes sense.” Kenny agreed, “So that makes how many?”

Ashton groaned, that uneasy look flashing through his eyes again. “Too many.” He admitted, kicking at the ground. “And I _still_ haven’t found what I’m looking for.”

“What are you looking for?” Kenny asked, but before Ashton could respond Karen came barreling back out into the living room.

“Kenny! Ashton, come on! Mr. and Mrs. Fairweather are going to let me put the collar on him!”

“We’re coming, Karen, don’t worry!” Kenny chuckled, ruffling her hair as they walked into the kitchen. Karen went running over to the table again, Beasley follow close at her heels to jump up onto the table beside the tabby and Rowan.

“So, what’s his name, Kare?” Mrs. Fairweather asked eagerly, resting her chin in the palm of her hand. Karen giggled, picking up the purple collar from the trio on the table.

“I dub thee, Sir Sparkles of the McCormick household!” Karen said excitedly, clipping the collar on around the tabby. The tabby puffed out its chest, looking far too proud as it purred and head butt Karen. Beasley, on the other hand, looked like he was smirking as Rowan’s tail hit him in the back of the head, causing the entire group to laugh at their antics.

“Sparkles, hm?” Mr. Fairweather asked, grinning as he reached over and pet the newly named Tabby. “I think he likes it.”

Karen giggled, smiling proudly, “Definitely!”

“Which collar would you like Beasley to have, Ashy?” Mrs. Fairweather asked after a moment, motioning to the slight blue and orange collars still on the table. Ashton hummed, reaching out and taking the orange collar. He put it around Beasley’s neck, grinning.

“There, now we can always see the tags, and he’s ready for Halloween.” Beasley growled slightly in frustration, looking displeased. Ashton chuckled. “It’s not that bad, Beasley. Besides, you really only have to wear it while these cat-nappers are on the loose.”

Beasley huffed, tail flicking irritably even as he let out a low sound of what was probably agreement.

“Then lovely Rowan gets the blue!” Mrs. Fairweather exclaimed, clipping the blue collar around Rowan’s neck. Rowan purred proudly, walking closer to Ashton’s mom and hopping down into her lap.

\----

Mysterion sighed, frowning at the police station across the street. At night, the station almost looked menacing; the windows bright and shades pulled down low. He could see silhouettes of the cops on nightshift, doing who knows what inside.

Nothing about this situation felt right; sure, their cops were assholes and idiots galore, but would all of them really be a part of some Cthulhu cult?

The thought made his stomach twist into knots.

“You’re thinking too hard; I could hear it from all the way at the bottom of the building.”

“You wouldn’t understand.” Mysterion sighed, glancing over at Umbra as he finished pulling himself up over the ledge.

Umbra laughed, walking over and bumping his shoulder with Mysterion’s. “Try me.”

“I can’t die and it’s because of a cult like the one the police are in.” Mysterion ground out dryly, and the sudden silence was something Mysterion had come to expect.

\---

Okay, _wait_.

Mysterion couldn’t die?

Something itched at the back of Umbra’s mind, trying to come to the surface as he thought hard about Mysterion’s words. Hadn’t he said something like that the night at the U-Stor-It?

“Okay, yeah,” Umbra agreed, nodding a bit before looking up at Mysterion. “That’s not what I was expecting, and I certainly don’t think I can understand how you’re feeling about it.”

“What, don’t believe me?” Mysterion huffed irritably, and Umbra’s heart thumped painfully at the hurt that flashed across his eyes.

Umbra shook his head, placing a hand on Mysterion’s arm. “I never said that.” Umbra explained softly, “It feels like it makes sense that you can’t die; I can feel that there’s something there, in the back of my mind, that proves it, but… I can’t think of it. But we’ll stop the police from doing what they’re doing any further, I promise.”

Mysterion chuckled weakly, eyes glossed over like tears might fall from them if he wasn’t careful. Umbra smiled at him, reaching up and patting his cheek, “Everything’ll be fine, Mysterion. Just watch. We’ll kick their asses and figure out what’s going on.”

Mysterion barked out a laugh, shaking his head. “You seem _incredibly_ eager to fight, Umbra.” He taunted lightly, crossing his arms over his chest. “So how about we go find some bad guys to beat up? They never learn, here in South Park.”

Umbra smirked, chuckling and glad to see the hurt in his eyes disappear. “Please, sweetheart, you’re the only one who ever puts up a good fight.” He teased in returned, lightly brushing his hand over Mysterion’s jaw. “If I don’t fight you, there’s no fun in it.”

Mysterion laughed again, rolling his eyes as he made his way to the edge of the rooftop. “I seem to remember differently, Mr. I-Can-Throw-People-Over-My-Shoulder.”

“What, do I look like the type to get into lots of fights?” Umbra asked, batting his eyes up at him innocently before jumping the gap between buildings. Mysterion followed suit, landing a bit more smoothly than Umbra did on the icy surface.

They started their patrol, falling silent as they kept an eye out for anything suspicious and falling silent so as not to attract attention. The entire time, though, Umbra couldn’t stop himself from messing with Mysterion; not wanting him to start thinking about the police situation right now and wanting to make him react more than just the gruff, mysterious hero he insisted he wanted to be.

The blushes paired with scowls that he got in return were _definitely_ worth it, making Umbra feel far prouder than they probably should.

An hour after patrol began, they were done, and Umbra was definitely beat. He was ready to curl up with Beasley and Sparkles and just _sleep_ for what would hopefully be hours. Especially with the big night planned for tomorrow.

The thought of going back into the police station after possibly exposing himself sent literally shivers up his spine, but he couldn’t in good conscious refuse to go and possibly let innocent people be sacrificed to some creepy as all heck monster underneath the police station.

He sighed as he slipped out of the shadows and into the comfort of his room, smiling at the two cats waiting patiently on his bed. He gave them a short nod, removing his mask and looking down at it. He bit his lip, thinking back to his parents pleads to not become an actual superhero.

He felt bad for breaking his promise to them, but at this point?

There was no other choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Announcement 1: So, some of you may have noticed by now that this story is now a part of a series! Why? Well, I thought it'd be fun to write some of my own little shorts about Kenny and Ashton (and if I ever get around to writing a Stick of Truth Prequel, that'll go there as well), and if there are any unnecessary, um, "adult" chapters (aka sexy times), then those will be going there as well! In fact, there should be one there now! 
> 
> Announcement 2: If you follow me on twitter, you've probably already seen this, but I was thinking... how would you guys like to join me on a Livestream through writing/editing a chapter for this story, as well as discuss AUs and theories for Kenny and Ashton! It'd be on youtube and I would give you guys a link, and if you guys are interested in watching, you can give me time zones and I could do my best to get a time everyone can see it at! It'd also be available after so you guys could watch it later if you couldn't make it.
> 
> So let me know if you'd like to see it and what time zone you're in if you do! 
> 
> Thanks for listening, and see you next chapter!


	32. Are You Cheerful?

The next day at school was definitely interesting, to say the least.

The moment Ashton had walked into the building, BeBe came running over, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Ashton! You’ll be trying out, right?” She asked excitedly. When Ashton gave her a small nod of confirmation she nearly squealed at the top of her lungs before shoving papers into his hands, “Great! Fill these out before the day is over, and meet us in the gym ten minutes after classes end! Do you need a list of cheers to do?”

Ashton laughed, shaking his head slightly, “Don’t worry, BeBe, this isn’t my first time trying out for a team! No need for any lists.”

“Okay!” BeBe said cheerfully, still bouncing and buzzing with energy. Ashton really hoped she wasn’t already planning all kinds of routines to do if he made the team; as flattered as he was she was so excited to see him, he couldn’t in good consciousness just let them assume he’d get the spot. Surely _someone_ else in the school had the necessary talent to help get the team into shape.

“BeBe,” Ashton said seriously, when she seemed ready to burst away from excitement.

“Yeah, Ashton?” She asked, smiling at him innocently.

“You know you need to pick the best person who auditions, _right_? Not just who you want?”

“What are you guys even _talking_ about?” Stan asked, frowning. Kyle nodded beside him, questions in his gaze as Cartman just scoffed. BeBe gasped, whirling to face them.

“You don’t know?!”

At the collective shakes of their heads, BeBe’s jaw dropped, looking back at Ashton and Kenny for confirmation before looking at the other boys.

“The cheerleading tryouts!” She nearly shouted, staring at Stan and Kyle like they had lost their minds. The boys blinked twice, continuing to stare at her in confusion.

“Yeah, we got that part,” Kyle said after a moment, “What does that have to do with Ashton?”

Ashton sighed, rolling his eyes. “I’m trying out for the team.” He explained simply, and without a second to spare Cartman was already scoffing.

“ _Please_ , like _you’d_ be able to do all those fancy stunts.”

“I thought you did pole dancing?” Stan questioned innocently. “Why’re you thinking of joining the cheer team?”

Kyle and Cartman both whirled to face Stan, jaws dropping. “Wait, _what_?!”

Stan blinked at them, staring blankly. “What?”

“Pole dancing?” Kyle asked, clearly looking for more information. Stan blinked at them again before his eyes widened in realization that Kyle and Cartman weren’t there when Stan and Kenny found out about Ashton’s hobby.

“Oh yeah, Ashton’s—“

Cartman burst out laughing, throwing his head back and cackling like he had just heard the funniest thing all year. Ashton sighed, already used to the brunet’s reactions to any and everything. “Oh my fucking god, are you actually a slut?!”

Ashton grabbed Kenny’s wrist when the boy in the parka growled low in his throat, shaking his head even as his own anger simmered just beneath his skin. BeBe glared at Cartman, placing her hands on her hips.

“Ex _cuse_ me?” She scoffed, “I’ll have you know that Ashton’s got more talent than your fat ass ever will!”

“Cartman, plenty of guys do pole dancing!” Kyle huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Stan picked up there as well,

“Yeah, man, it doesn’t have to be like the stuff you see strippers do, and Ashton’s really good!”

Cartman scoffed, rolling his eyes and smirking. “Really? All I see is a slutty _fag_.”

Ashton grit his teeth as he tightened his grip on Kenny’s wrist, keeping him there even as Kenny made to move forward. It wasn’t worth it to hit Cartman, and besides, he already had the perfect way to get back at him.

“That’s _IT_!” BeBe screeched, nearly throwing her backpack onto the ground and effectively catching the attention of the other kids in the area as well as making both Ashton and Kenny jump.

“BeBe, wait—“

“You’re going _down_ , fatass!” Before Ashton could get out those two words, BeBe lunged for Cartman, who reeled back from shock.

Before BeBe could scratch or even hit him, though, Clyde was rushing over and lifting her off her feet. She shrieked, one hand clawing at her boyfriend’s arm and the other still reaching for Cartman. “Let me at him! I’m sick of his bullshit!”

“Calm down, BeBe!” Clyde begged, lifting her as high as he could. “He’s not worth losing your spot on the team!”

“He called Ashton a slut _and_ a fag—it’s worth it!”

“He did _what?!”_ Tweek gasped, his expression quickly morphing into anger. Ashton could feel his face starting to burn the longer this spectacle went on and more people started noticing the commotion. He cleared his throat nervously, taking a small step forward.

“Guys, it’s not—“

“It is a big deal, Ashton.” Kenny huffed, frowning at him. “He shouldn’t be able to get away with calling you that.”

“Ha! Look, even the fag himself doesn’t want you to do anything!”

“I didn’t say that!” Ashton hissed, “I’m just saying that you guys don’t have to make such a big deal out of it! Who cares what people- especially _you_ , Cartman- think?!”

“Can I punch him anyway?” Craig asked darkly, glowering at Cartman from beside Tweek. His hands were still tucked into his jacket’s pockets, but Ashton could very easily imagine him making a show of cracking his knuckles.

“No!” Ashton sighed, exasperated and at the same time very thankful for his friends. “No one’s going to punch anybody! If Cartman has a problem with me liking pole dance and trying out for a cheer team that’s his problem.”

Cartman’s smirk only grew, and he only rubbed salt into the wound by sticking his tongue out and flipping Craig off. “Hah! Can’t touch me, can you?”

Craig growled lowly, his glower only deepening as he flipped Cartman off in return. Ashton sighed softly, shaking his head.

“Welp, I’ve had enough Cartman interaction for the day.” He explained, rolling his eyes as he picked up BeBe’s bag. As he picked up the object, though, he also snagged the very edge of Cartman’s shadow and turned it into a thin thread that no one would be able to see or feel until the moment was right. He subtly wound it around his finger as he stood back up, making sure it wouldn’t slip away from him.

“I’m going to go to class.” Ashton walked over to hand the back to BeBe as Cylde finally set her down. “I’ll see you at tryouts, BeBe.” He promised, before looking at Craig’s group and smiling at them. “And I’ll see you guys later, yeah?”

“Definitely,” Token responded confidently, grinning at Ashton. “See you later dude.”

“I’ll come with,” Kenny said quickly, striding over to Ashton’s side, “Nothing better to do before class, and we share it, so.” Kenny shrugged, smiling shyly at Ashton with what may or may not have been a faint blush on his cheeks. Ashton couldn’t really tell in the school’s lighting.

Ashton smiled, nodding happily. “Sounds good to me. Bye everyone!” Ashton gave the group a wave as he and Kenny started walking down the hall, and when they were out of earshot Kenny frowned.

“I still think at least _one_ of us should have been allowed to hit him.” Kenny huffed, making Ashton chuckle.

“Oh, no worries; I’ve already set up a minor retribution.” He admitted, pinching the thread of shadow around his finger and giving it a harsh tug in his pocket. Cartman’s sudden, loud shout as his feet were swept out from underneath him was like music to Ashton’s ears. The best part?

That wasn’t even the main act of his plan.

Kenny glanced over his shoulder, frowning. “What just happened?”

“Let’s just say Cartman’s feet decided not to cooperate for a moment.” Ashton hummed, letting the thread go back to Cartman’s shadow. “You excited for tonight?”

The blond boy barked out a laugh, kicking at the ground. “Freaked out is more like it. I mean, you saw the notes! Whatever this thing is… it’s not good.”

Ashton nodded, thinking about what happened the night before, when he told his parents about the monster Tweek had come across. His mother had gone ghostly pale within seconds and nearly fainted. It was the end of the conversation before patrol, but his parents had demanded he be even more careful because of it. Thinking of last night made his arm burn a little bit; the bullet’s graze right across the middle of his arm marking still feeling too much like fire over the expanse of the birth mark.

His mom had assured him that the cut wouldn’t harm his abilities in any way, and that the mark would heal with the skin, but he was still rather nervous about the mission and what awaited them in the police station. He had been stupid and let his instincts take over to protect him, which probably caused him to out himself to every conscious officer in the station.

Ashton frowned at the tiled floor, lost in his thoughts and trying to think of how to make sure none of the police knew just what had happened with his shadows. Maybe they were all stupid enough they thought it was just some sort of trick?

“You okay, Ashton?” Kenny asked softly, bumping his shoulder with Ashton’s and effectively snapping him out of his thoughts. Ashton smiled at him, nodding.

“Yeah, just going over the plan again.” He said, giving Kenny a little white lie. He was trying to think of a plan, after all, just not the one that the Freedom Pals set up. Kenny nodded, biting his lip.

“Everything’s going to work out. You’ll see.” Kenny assured, although he didn’t quite sound as confident as he should. Ashton couldn’t blame him; what police station had some sort of _elder god_ in their basement? One thing’s for sure, living in South Park was most definitely interesting.

\-----

Although Kenny wasn’t going to try out, he still wanted to go see how Ashton did. Stan and Kyle came along as well, insisting that they see what all the fuss was about. He was surprised Cartman hadn’t insisted on coming along as well, if solely to make fun of Ashton, and was actually a little disappointed because of it. He’s been itching to punch Cartman since he opened his mouth this morning—Craig actually already _had_ punched Cartman.

He really wished he had been there to see it.

Now, though, he was walking into the gym a few minutes before tryouts officially began with Stan and Kyle at his side, scanning the crowd for Ashton. The cheer team really was doing their best to appear professional; a table was set up against the nearest wall and tumbling mats were spread out and taped together across a good third or so of the gym from a certain distance from the table. A handful of girls dressed in workout clothes were scattered across the bleachers or the floor around it, stretching.

The cheer team was huddling together near the table, probably going over what they were planning on doing. Kenny could easily pick out BeBe, Red, and Nicole from the group, but all the others he didn’t recognize; although Wendy was sitting in the bleachers as well, her signature pink beret nearly hiding away half her face as she focused on her book.

“Wendy?” Stan gasped as they walked over, “Wait, you’re trying out?”

Wendy didn’t look up from her book as she responded, lightly rolling her eyes as she did. “Does it look like I’m in workout clothes, Stan?” She questioned politely, and Kenny chuckled softly as Stan blushed in embarrassment.

“Sorry, it’s just, uh, y’know, all the other girls here are trying out, so I just… kinda… assumed.” Stan finished lamely, trailing off near the end. Wendy giggled, sighing fondly and shaking her head as she closed her book.

“Well, you aren’t trying out, are you boys? I’m just here to watch, like you.” She motioned over to the cheer squad with her book, “They like having me watch the practices and tryouts, in case I ever want to join again.”

“Yeah, you were pretty good at it in middle school.” Kyle commented as the boys sat down around her. “The team could definitely use you.”

“To be honest, the idea of constantly getting hurt from them not being able to do stunts properly is not something I would like to deal with; if I want to get into the colleges I want, I can’t afford concussions or broken bones.”

“Ah, Wendy,” Kenny sighed, smiling slyly at her as he rested his elbow on the bleacher row she was sitting on and rested his cheek in his hand, “Always so studious. Doesn’t it ever get tiring?”

Wendy let out a small “hmph”, smirking at Kenny in return. “Please, I have just as much fun as anyone else, Mr. Mysterious.”

Kenny felt his cheeks heat up almost instantly, and he looked away, huffing in embarrassment. “Whatever.” He said shyly, finally spotting Ashton in the scattered group. He looked completely unfocused on the others in the gym, stretching his arms and legs almost robotically. Considering how he probably stretched like that daily, Kenny wasn’t all that surprised. It probably made for the best time to get lost in thoughts.

At 2:30 on the dot, the cheer team broke apart from their little huddle and BeBe stepped forward; the air around her changing ever so slightly as she took on the role of captain.

“Alright. Everyone, listen up!” She commanded, voice echoing slightly in the gym as she placed her hands on her hips and gained the attention from everyone. “This is the year we get serious with our tryouts, which means if you at any point keep up, then you most likely won’t make the cut.” She explained, “Here’s how it’s going to go: We’ll call you up one by one, and when you are ready, you’ll give us your best cheer; something simple, no fancy tricks. After that, we’ll ask you to do a certain number of stunts for us. Be prepared for anything from a herkie—” She looked to her left, where Red jumped into the air and did a pose with her left leg tucked under her, left arm bent as if to place it on her hip, and her right leg and arm stretched out like she was trying to touch her toes before landing on her feet again.

“Or the splits—” BeBe looked to her right, where Nicole dropped to the ground in a near perfect split. “To a series of round-offs, handsprings, and tucks.” There was no example for these, which sent an unsure ripple through most of the girls waiting to try out. Ashton looked fairly unaffected, if not curious and excited. BeBe chuckled, “Don’t worry, you’ll see what we mean soon enough, girls. Anyway, after that, we’ll finish off with a simple routine that I’ll lead, and you have to follow. My girls will be walking through to see how well you’re doing. If you aren’t doing well, they’ll know. Got that?”

A murmured ripple of agreement came from the people trying out, Ashton giving them a small smile and a thumb’s up.

BeBe smiled, nodding. “Good. We’ll be going in alphabetical order, so please go wait in the bleachers for your turn, or feel free to keep stretching! Whatever you prefer, as long as you don’t get in the way of the person trying out.”

“How long is this going to take, exactly?” Kyle asked, frowning. “There are at least 15 people trying out.”

Wendy shrugged, focused on the girl heading to be in front of BeBe, Red, Nicole, and two other cheerleader-judges that Kenny didn’t recognize. “We usually work through them pretty fast. Sometimes you can tell who’s bad just from the cheer alone; if they can’t give out a proper cheer, you can work on it, but there are subtleties that only cheerleaders can pick up on that help determine if they can do it or not. Or if the person keeps interrupting to start again, then chances are they won’t make a good cheerleader.”

Kenny nodded, thinking he understood just what Wendy was saying. It made sense, and already it felt like it was more complicated than at first glance. That, of course, might just have to do with the fact he didn’t know what half the things BeBe was looking for were. His attention drifted from Wendy to Ashton, who was apparently finishing up his stretches.

When he was done Ashton sighed, looking at the bleachers and at Kenny. He smiled innocently and gave a small wave before starting over to the small group, taking the bleacher steps two at a time.

“Hey guys,” Ashton greeted, sliding onto the seat beside Kenny. “What are you doing here?” He had to lean around Kenny a bit to see Wendy and Kyle, and without him wanting it to, Kenny’s mind switched back to the night before and he felt his face light up in a blush that he really hoped no one would notice.

“We came to see what all the fuss is about,” Stan explained, looking down at the girl that just started doing a series of jumps and splits for the judges. “It doesn’t look too hard.”

“Just watch,” Wendy and Ashton said at the same time, and Kenny wondered if everyone who did cheerleading was on some sort of wavelength only cheerleaders had in order to do that so flawlessly without even looking at each other.

A few seconds later, the girl was flipping backwards and springing off her hands multiple times. Ashton hummed thoughtfully as he watched, and Kenny had a feeling he was in for quite the show.

\----

Ashton’s turn came quickly enough, and when it did he felt the familiar flutter of nerves in his stomach. He went over the cheers in his head one more time, reminding himself to replace Pirates with Cows once again. He was sure his old team wouldn’t mind him borrowing the cheers for try-outs, but it was definitely hard remembering not to say pirates instead of cows.

The nerves went away quickly enough as he came to a stop a respectable distance away from the table and he saw that BeBe was doing everything she could not to visible show just how much his try out seems to be exciting her.

“Alright Ashton,” Red hummed, admittedly looking unimpressed as he stood there waiting for them to give the okay. “Show us what you’ve got.”

Ashton nodded, nibbling on his lip for just a moment before he took a deep breath and threw his arms into a high V. “Cows got the power,” He exclaimed, stepping out with his right leg and bringing his hands down, twisting to the side to punch the air as he spoke. He clapped twice as the sentence finished before turning around to the other side, planting a hand firmly on his hip, leaning forward slightly, and fanning his face as he did. “Cows got the heat, Cows got the spirit to knock you off your feet!” Ashton finished the cheer with a right half high V, grinning all the while.

Red looked stunned, like she hadn’t thought he’d be so enthusiastic about it, and had this been his first tryout she would have been right to think that. Ashton _sucked_ at the cheering part originally—he could never work up enough courage to actually proudly do routines and the cheers at the same time, and he just wasn’t one to cheer. Now, though, it had become a part of him, and he liked to consider himself good at it.

“Alright, now we’re going to start simple,” The girl to Red’s left with long light brown hair tied into a high ponytail with a bright green bow said in an almost sickeningly sweet tone. “Do a toe-touch for us and then the splits please; as far as you can go.”

“Sure thing,” Ashton hummed, doing as told. He jumped, bringing out his legs and touching his toes as he did. He landed on his feet and just as quickly slid into a perfect split, trying not to chuckle at the sudden shouts of surprise Kyle and Stan let out.

The girls Ashton didn’t know and Red’s jaws all dropped, while BeBe looked like she was trying very hard not to grin as Ashton stood back up. “Please do a standing back handspring back tuck,” The other girl Ashton didn’t know said, sounding a little nervous. Ashton nodded, smiling at her before doing as instructed.

“Now do a front handspring, back handspring, front handspring, round-off, back handspring, cartwheel, back handspring, front handspring, back handspring, back hand spring, and finish with a back tuck!” BeBe said as steadily as she could, even though her voice still squeaked with excitement.

Ashton wondered if she realized just how dizzy that could make him, much less someone of less skill, but nodded anyway; he knew he could do it- he’s done it before. He just isn’t as steady on his feet as usual until he has the chance to either stay upright or stand still for longer than half a second.

Ashton took a couple steps back so he wouldn’t hit the table, took a deep breath to steady himself, and did the stunts.

\----

Kenny thought watching Ashton work his way around a pole was mesmerizing, but watching him flip over so many times Kenny wasn’t even sure his hands and feet were actually touching the ground was a very close second. It didn’t feel quite as fluid as it did when he was dancing around on the pole in his basement, but he supposed that might have been the point; they were two different styles, after all, and cheering was a bit different from dance, even if they both had dance in them.

Ashton wobbled slightly as he landed on his feet again after the final back tuck, barely even panting as he walked back up to the judges.

“Wait, is he not dizzy?” Kyle asked with a small frown, “I got dizzy just from watching.”

“I think he’s used to it,” Stan explained slowly, frowning as well. “I mean, he does all sorts of stuff that makes him flip over a whole bunch.”

“He’s definitely better than the girls we’ve seen so far.” Wendy hummed, smiling thoughtfully as Ashton made his way back up to the group and the next girl was called down.

Ashton sat down next to Kenny again with a heavy sigh, shoving his bangs out of his face. “Tell me, Wendy, are the routines like what BeBe just made me do?”

Wendy laughed, shaking her head. “No, she just got super excited and wanted to show you off. You really shouldn’t’ve showed her what you could do last month.”

“I guess not,” Ashton laughed, pulling his water bottle from his backpack.

It was a while longer before everyone trying out was called back down for the final stage of the tryouts, and something told Kenny that this was where Ashton was going to shine.

“Alright, everyone line up with a good amount of space between you, so no one hits anyone. Try to keep up, okay?” When everyone was in place and ready, BeBe exchanged a short nod with her team before turning around, starting to do a simple routine that used a lot of footwork. Kenny focused on Ashton as the girls around him started trying to follow the routine. Some were actually really well, keeping up with BeBe’s every movement as the cheerleaders wove through to study the moves. Ashton didn’t move much, focusing on BeBe and tapping his hand against his thigh.

“Why isn’t Ashton doing anything?” Kyle asked with a frown.

Wendy and Stan shrugged, both intensely focused on what was happening on the floor. Kenny bit his lip, “I think he’s catching the timing?” He suggested, and no sooner than he said it did Ashton start moving in time with BeBe, gracefully moving from one move to the next. Even from here Kenny could see Ashton’s grin as he kept up with BeBe with ease. Kenny smiled in turn, nodding to himself. He was right; Ashton was definitely where he belonged now that dancing was involved.

Wendy whistled in appreciation, nodding to herself. “He’s good.”

“Definitely.” The boys all agreed, grinning as they watched their friend continue to try out for the team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So I'm thinking of doing the livestream on , let's say... Saturday, February 10th, 10 am Mountain Time. So for those of you in Europe that's around 6pm and EST it's noon. That's a good time for everyone, right? Not too late and not too early. Let me know if that doesn't work for you, please! I can go as early as 7:30 my time!


	33. Myths Become Real

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So some interesting stuff happened over the weekend for this series, and you might be wondering what all those chapters were about! I had some livestreams happen for the story, where I got to talk with some of you and got 7 pages done for tomorrow's special chapter! Did you miss it, or want to watch it now? I made a playlist!
> 
> _[More Than Survive LiveStream Playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj6mRZxZUTOrSKyIEZokuQa7j1jXLYlsB) _

That night, after his parents were asleep, Umbra went downstairs to meet with Mysterion. Beasley and Sparkles meowed at his feet, grabbing at his pant legs and trying to pull him back towards the bedroom. He frowned, crouching down and lightly swatting them away. “No, boys. I need to go out- this is important.”

Beasley hissed, not agreeing in the slightest as Sparkles mewed worriedly. Umbra sighed, pushing them back with his foot as he left the house and quickly closing the door before either of them could get outside. He could hear them clawing at the door, mewling in frustration. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Why were they so upset over this? It wasn’t like it was his first time going out in the middle of the night without them.

“Ready to get going, Umbra?” Mysterion’s voice rang out over the silent street, followed closely by the crunch of snow as the other hero jumped down from wherever he was hiding. Umbra hummed as he turned to face Mysterion, smiling brightly at him.

“You bet! Let’s go kill that Elder God!” He exclaimed excitedly, making Mysterion roll his eyes. Umbra grinned at him before starting down the street towards the police station. They walked quietly for a while, not really saying anything.

“…You know, I’m really glad you changed your mind and joined us, Umbra.” Mysterion mentioned suddenly, causing Umbra to look over at him. “All the others, no matter how much they act like they cared, just treated this like a game until the rest of the Freedom Pals realized the severity of the situation. They didn’t take it seriously from the start, but you did.”

Umbra could feel heat spreading across his cheeks at Mysterion’s words. Really, he was just playing around like the others, too. He didn’t deserve the praise. Sure, he took it more seriously, but that was because he had the ability to do so and a goal to work towards by finding whoever had actual powers and helping them stay safe from people like the government.

… If the government ever came here looking for them, that is. The crazy government man from over a month ago definitely didn’t seem like the normal government agent. Or at least not the ones that were supposed to go after Supernaturals.

“Maybe so, Mysterion,” He began softly, not wanting Mysterion to paint a picture that wasn’t quite accurate, “But I’m just playing as well. At least with the others, I am. My goal is entirely different from theirs, yes, but the result is still the same; I haven’t been doing anything all that heroic since we began this game.”

Mysterion barked out a laugh, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s more than the others care for. At least you aren’t just searching for a cat for a fake movie franchise.”

Umbra chuckled, admonishing to the point Mysterion made, “True; that is more like a convenient cover-up... Although, the missing cat situation’s gotten a bit too real.”

As they spoke and wandered through to the main part of town, screams and cheers and all sorts of chaos steadily grew louder and louder until Umbra could barely hear himself think. The adults of the town were crowding and acting like crazy delinquents; alcohol in their hands and who knows what else in their systems. Umbra could feel his skin crawling from it all. “What’s gotten into them?” He asked, frowning and motioning to the chaos around them. “I mean, they can’t have always been like this, right?”

“The adults in this town _have_ seemed crazier than normal,” Mysterion agreed, “We believe it has to do with the cat-nappings and the police’s current activity. That’s why we’re doing this heist in the first place.”

“Well, whatever’s happening, it’s not good.”

“Yeah, the situation’s gotten pretty bad.” Mysterion sighed, shaking his head. “I just hope we can get it back to normal quickly enough.”

“Me too,” Umbra agreed as they came up to the police station and the other freedom pals and Chaos, where Mysterion slipped into Leader mode.

“Alright Freedom Pals, here’s the plan. Once we get inside the police station, Toolshed and Umbra will set off a diversion and then the—” Mysterion looked up from the others, eyes widening slightly before narrowing into a glare. “Wait a minute… what the fuck?”

Umbra turned around, frowning when he saw Coon and Friends walking up. Why were they here? They shouldn’t even know this operation was _happening_ , much less where it was. Umbra didn’t tell them anything, and he hadn’t noticed any sort of spy—

Umbra froze, eyes widening slightly as he realized that there was still one person who could have told them. Chaos stepped forward slightly to between the two teams, watching the scene unfold.

“Uh, yeah, come on guys! Huh, we’ve gotta get inside the police station!” Coon said loudly, putting on an act so fake Umbra would have noticed it miles away.

“What are you assholes doing here?” Mysterion growled, taking a small step forward as if prepping for a fight.

“We’re here to investigate a hot lead regarding the South Park Police.” Coon explained, the sounds of a faint, mocking lie slipping over his words.

Tweek let out a short huff, “That’s what _we’re_ doing!”

“Oh no. No, no, this is _our_ superhero mission, Freedom Pals. Fuck you guys!” Coon snapped. Umbra rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Get lost, before there’s a fight!”

“Fellas! Fellas!” Fastpass exclaimed, walking forward, “Have we all forgotten there’s a little girl in trouble in there?”

“Fastpass is right,” Coon said with a dramatic flair, “I suppose that, just this once, we should put our petty differences aside and work together.” Umbra exchanged glances with the Freedom Pals; was it worth it to trust Coon?

“All right, Mysterion… What’s the plan?” Coon asked after a few minutes of silence. Umbra sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

“We could use as much help as possible for this mission,” He admitted softly, looking at Mysterion. “You know this as well as I do.”

Mysterion frowned at the ground, eyes flitting around for a few moments before he slowly sighed, “I… Think some of us should make a diversion. Make the cops head towards it so that the rest can sneak in without the cops noticing.”

“Good idea!” Coon exclaimed, pointing at Mysterion before motioning to Coon and Friends. “Coon Friends will go up the fire escape and cause the diversion so Freedom Pals can sneak in the front.”

“This is all pretty coincidental.” Toolshed said, frowning at the Coon friends with an accusatory look in his eyes, “Did you guys just steal our lead again?”

“Innocent people are being arrested, Toolshed. That’s all that matters to us. It should be all that matters to you.” Coon said sternly, pointing at the Freedom Pals once again before turning and looking at his group. “Okay, Coon Friends up the fire escape! Come, guys!” He said cheerfully, voice about five octaves higher than it was only moments before.

“Chaos, did you tell them?” Umbra quietly asked the super villain after a moment, frowning. “They had no idea what we were planning, last I saw them.” Chaos gasped, placing a hand to his chest like he was offended Umbra would ask. Umbra’s eyes narrowed as Chaos failed to meet his eyes.

“What? I’d never tell Coon Friends what you guys are planning!” Chaos exclaimed quietly, so as not to catch the other’s attention. “I hate them more than I hate you guys, after all. Enemy of my enemy, remember?”

Umbra frowned, about to retort Chaos’ claim when Mysterion called Umbra over to the window.

“Umbra! Come take a look at this!”

Umbra sighed, giving Chaos a look that swore this conversation wasn’t over, and went to stand beside Mysterion. His eyes widened when he saw one of the officers snort a line of who knows what, his coworker doing the same a moment later. Umbra’s nose crinkled in disgust.

Seconds later, there was a loud clatter that Umbra could hear even from outside, and the two heroes exchanged a glance when the police went running towards the distraction. Mysterion gave a short nod, turning around and motioning to the other Freedom Pals. “Alright, Freedom Pals; let’s go!”

\----

Mysterion led the others into the police station, and almost as soon as he passed over the threshold of the entrance he felt something off about the area. It felt dangerous; like he was unwanted in the area, almost. The others didn’t seem to be phased, but as Mysterion glanced at each of his teammates to make sure, he saw that Tweek looked mildly uncomfortable— although that might just be because of the demon down in the depths of the station— and Umbra had that same uneasy, confused look that he had in the U-Stor-It.

“Oh, shit, a criminal! And he’s with innocent teens!”

“Wait, what—OH MY GOD!” Wonder Tweek yelped as the police officer in the bullet proof desk area pulled out a gun and proceeded to shoot at the team only to be shot and killed by his own ricocheting bullet, and although Mysterion was used to seeing more blood than that on a daily basis, seeing it paint the glass from someone else was just as horrifying as the first time Kenny saw it happen.

“Wow, I didn’t see that coming…” Tupperware said shakily, trying to keep his voice level and robotic for the sake of his character.

Wonder Tweek whimpered slightly, both he and Umbra looking far paler than they had when they walked in.

“Uh, he said one of us was a criminal…. Who did he mean?” Umbra asked slowly as they made their way into the main offices. Mysterion shrugged, not knowing how to answer.

When they were in the main area of the building, the uneasy feeling Mysterion had been feeling was building in his chest, feeling like something was telling him to get out and leave or even sapping away his energy at a slug’s pace. Umbra was too far behind him to check on him, but the unease continued to build.

“What the fuck?! Freeze, vigilantes!” One of the high cops in their way shouted, his buddies quickly surrounding them. Jeez, even high these cops could move fast when they wanted.

Mysterion quickly ducked as one of them lunged for him, punching the cop in the stomach and quickly pushing him away. The sounds of a fight broke out moments later, everyone struggling against a cop and trying to dodge tasers and—did a cop just shoot a gun?!

“Why the _fuck_ do they keep shooting at us?!” Mysterion hissed, knocking the cop he was fighting flat on his back.

“I don’t fucking know, man!” Toolshed snapped, punching the cop he was against right in the face. A shock of surprise flooded through Mysterion’s system, not having expected to hear a voice other than Umbra’s. He had gotten used to hearing his voice among the fight more often than the others, and the fact he hadn’t responded made Mysterion’s skin crawl. Something wasn’t right here, and it irked him that he couldn’t place it.

“Mysterion!” Wonder Tweek gasped, his cop already face first and unconscious on the ground as Mysterion’s cop was soon in the same position. “Umbra disappeared!”

Mysterion frowned, spinning around in a circle to see if Umbra was just somewhere difficult to see. He couldn’t spot any wavering shadows or even a flash of silver, but he couldn’t try to pinpoint his teammate a moment longer as more cops showed up and he and Wonder Tweek had to help the others fend them off.

“He’ll be back!” Mysterion assured, “He’s probably taking care of any cops we can’t see!”

“That’s what the Coon and Friends are doing, though!” Tupperware exclaimed, tackling one of the cops and knocking him into the ground. “He can’t be with them!”

“Well would you rather have to fight cops all the time or have them be unconscious in a corner?!” Toolshed shouted back, and Tupperware let out a small shout of agreement as he made one cop taze another.

Soon enough all the cops were unconscious, and Coon and Friends came running into the rooms, looking a little worse for wear but still in one piece and proud. “All the cops have been taken care of here!” Coon explained, motioning towards the doors that lead to the upper levels. “Shall we get going?”

“Where’s Umbra?” Human Kite asked, looking around the room. Mysterion felt his stomach drop.

“He’s not with you?”

“Why would he be? He made it pretty fucking clear he didn’t want to join up with us again when he left.” Super Craig scoffed, rolling his eyes a bit even though his shoulders seemed rather tense as he exchanged a glance with Wonder Tweek.

“So, if he’s not with you guys…” Professor Chaos started slowly, “and he’s not with the rest of us…. Then where’d he go?”

\----

Umbra groaned as he came to, his head pounding and body feeling incredibly heavy as he started pushing himself up from the grimy ground.

“Ow…” He hissed, pressing the heel of his hand just above his eye as a throbbing headache assaulted his head. “Shoot, they _had_ seen it…” He mumbled, taking stock of all his limbs and checking if he could use his shadows. The wisps in his shadow- the only one in this too-bright room- barely made it into the air before limply dropping to the ground, dying out just like Umbra’s powers.

He wasn’t surprised when he couldn’t even properly grab his shadow; whatever they had doused the inside of the police station with was in here as well, and it was potent. He groaned, sitting back on his heels as he took in the room he was trapped in. There was a door with some sort of wreath over it, a scattering of precious stones and gems spread all around the corners of the room. Well, at least nothing was being burned in here. He’d die of smoke inhalation before anything else was to happen if they had.

He flinched as the small window-like opening in the solid metal door was opened, the annoying police chief looking in with wide, surprised eyes. “Wow! The big guy wasn’t wrong! You already look wrecked, kid!” He exclaimed.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Umbra hissed, glaring at the cop. The police chief chuckled, grinning darkly.

“Well, after that little trick of yours due to Lavinski’s bullet, we went to the big guy, and he said to do all this voodoo crap. Looks like it worked, too! We wouldn’t want you to escape, after all! Boss said we could do whatever we wanted with you, and Shub-Nigarath hasn’t gotten to taste one of you before.”

Ashton felt his stomach twist into knots, remembering how his mother had looked so terrified over the mention of an Elder God. If that meant what he thought it did….

_Freedom Pals, you better hurry…_


	34. Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy valentine's day, guys! No matter if you're single or in a relationship, today is a day to spread love and celebrate your loved ones <3

 

I have a Valentine's Day special planned, however that might run a little late because it's going to be a very big story, I need to focus on work today, and I didn't get much sleep last night due to sharing a couch with a dog while the carpet of my room dried so I'm fairly exhausted and will be taking lots of naps today. BUT it will come out soon! I'll be working on it as much as I can today so please keep an eye out for when it does get posted under the Game Over (Are We Having Fun Yet?) series!

Until then, please enjoy these drawings I have, along with two unfinished/still in the works ones and guest appearances from Adrien Agreste and my OC Jasper from my Miraculous Ladybug series The Cat and His Wolf!

[](http://ibb.co/d24Ai7)   
  


 

[](http://ibb.co/eOSVi7)   
  


 

[](http://ibb.co/f5vai7)   
  


 

[](http://ibb.co/iergO7)   
  



	35. Unknowns and Uncertainties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was livestreamed and written this weekend! Want to watch it?
> 
> [Click Here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj6mRZxZUTOrSKyIEZokuQa7j1jXLYlsB)

Mysterion grit his teeth, looking around the area once more for their missing teammate. “Shit! Did they steal him or something?!”

“How could they steal him?” Human Kite asked, frowning, “I mean, he’s got those powers, no one should be able to sneak up on him enough to whisk him away.”

“So—So Umbra was just spirited away?” Wonder Tweek gasped, looking pale at just the thought. Super Craig walked over and patted him on the head comfortingly as Tupperware walked over to where Umbra had last been seen standing.

“Well there doesn’t seem to any sign of a struggle here.” Tupperware stated, matter of fact. He turned slowly in a circle, probably half pretending to “scan” the area with his tech. Mysterion knew he wouldn’t turn up anything that hadn’t already been noticed, which pretty much meant he wasn’t going to find anything. As if to confirm what was already known, Tupperware shook his head, looking slightly disheartened. “There’s nothing _anywhere_ that would show signs of a struggle all of us didn’t commit.”

Coon growled in frustration from the back, tapping his foot against the ground and looking all kinds of ticked off as he motioned to the door he was next to. “Whatever! We’ll find the idiot when we stop these assholes from doing anything else, right?! So let’s get going already!”

Mysterion felt sadness and anger well up in his chest; of _course_ Coon would just want to push a missing teammate aside like it was nothing. The fucker only cared about himself.

“Let’s do one last sweep of the room to make sure he isn’t around here and then we can go. He can’t have left the building.” Mysterion huffed, not wanting to concede but also knowing that if Umbra _was_ in fact caught, they couldn’t just stand here gawking at the disappearance.

Without waiting for a response Mysterion turned around, striding towards that god-awful clown room to check for Umbra. He heard the others start checking around the floor as well, Coon letting out a long groan of impatience.

“Fuck this! I’m going on ahead!” Coon shouted before slamming the door, making Mysterion cringe. That raccoon had no sense of stealth, did he?

Mysterion opened the door slowly, prepping for an ambush just in case. Instead he was hit by the awful stench of who-knows-what. It made his nose crinkle in disgust, and when he tried to walk into the room something wouldn’t cross the threshold. “Ah, come on!” Mysterion snapped, banging against the invisible wall he seemed to be running into. “Toolshed!” He called, looking over his shoulder. “I need your help here! Can you turn on the light?”

“You can’t do it yourself?” Toolshed asked, walking over from where he had been standing beside Human Kite. His expression turned disgusted when he got close enough to smell whatever was coming from the room, waving a hand in front of his face as if to fan away the smell. “Gross! What is that?!”

“I don’t know, but it’s keeping me from even reaching into the room!” Mysterion huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Toolshed raised an eyebrow at him as if to ask if he was being serious before reaching into the room and flipping on the light switch near the door.

Mysterion immediately noticed the offending object in the otherwise unchanged room; a potted plant with bushels of golden yellow star flowers. He was almost certain he could _see_ the stink rising off the flowers. His heart dropped a bit when he looked around and didn’t see anyone or anything else. Umbra wasn’t here.

He sighed and closed the door, fighting down the urge to kick something. “Did anyone find _anything_ suspicious?!” He asked, and all the others- even Tupperware and Wonder Tweek, the two boys least likely to lie- shook their heads. He felt his heart drop even further. “Shit..” He mumbled, gritting his teeth so hard he could feel them ache.

“If he’s not here then he must be further up!” Wonder Tweek said quickly, pointing to the door that Coon was no longer standing by, “The station has three more levels before the elevator to the basement! He must be there somewhere!”

Without waiting another second, the rest of heroes ran into the room to see Coon staring down the police chief.

“Ah, good, all of you are here now!” The police chief said cheerfully.

“Where’s Umbra?!” Captain Diabetes shouted, and the police chief shrugged before completely moving on from the question.

“Look, I know why you’re here. You’re fed up, because you think all cops do is harass black people.”

“You targeted my dad and called him a drug lord!” Tupperware snapped, nearly growling at the police chief.

The chief continued his little speech, acting as if he hadn’t even heard Token speak, “I know that to a young kid or adult it can seem like cops are racist and bigoted. But you can’t believe what the media tells you. Cops are just people. Like you, your friends, your family. People who work hard to—“

“SPOOK!!” An officer appeared from behind the chief, startling the whole group as his gun goes off and Tupperware just barely manages to dodge the bullet.

“ _Dammit_ Levinskky! Get your ass upstairs!” The chief snapped, “We can’t stop now! And turn on the alarm!” He shouted before following the officer up the stairs. Coon raced after him, followed quickly by Chaos and Fastpass

“Are you okay, Tupperware?” Mysterion asked, feeling another shot of anger boil through his blood. _No one_ shot at his friends.

“That fucking asshole _shot at me_!” Tupperware gasped, already charging up the steps with Mosquito and most of the others close behind.

Mysterion growled to himself, nodding to Super Craig and Wonder Tweek before darting up the steps himself.

The smells herbs and flowers only got stronger.                                                                              

Although he knew it was useless, Umbra once again tried to grab and manipulate his shadow, snagging the tendrils and barely getting a hold of them before they fell right through his fingers. He growled in frustration, eyes burning from a mix of fever and the thin cloud of smoke gathering in the high ceiling.

The cop that had been watching him had started burning incense what felt like hours ago, only serving to make Umbra cough and his eyes burn while his shadows only grew weaker.

Frustrated, Umbra kicked at the rocks spread across the floor, sending them skittering into the wall across from him. His legs gave out a moment later and he let out another hiss of anger, desperate to somehow make his escape and get back to the others. Who knew how much longer they were going to keep him here? It could be minutes, or even days- although Umbra wasn’t quite sure he could last the night, with how many things they choked the air with. Already he was feeling sick and his skin felt like it was trying to burn away.

“Mysterion, you better find me fast,” He sighed, wrapping his jacket around his hand and using it to knock away the jasper and garnet stones closest to him. “Because I don’t think I’ll be around much longer.”

\---

“Hey, get us out here!”

The Freedom Pals gasped as they entered the holding cells, stunned silent by the too-full cells. Mysterion felt guilt coil in his gut. How could so many people get swept into the jail right out from under his feet? He was supposed to be protecting the town, not letting all these people be captured!

“Token? Thank god you’re here, son!” Tupperware’s head whipped to the side, his eyes widening when he spotted his father behind bars.

“Dad?!” He cried out, breaking character ever so slightly and rushing over to the cell. “What the fuck are you doing here?!”

As Tupperware talked with his dad, trying to figure out how he got put in jail, Mysterion went to check the interrogation room with Super Craig and Mosquito-- only to find the door locked shut.

“This is so messed up!” Fastpass gasped, frowning, “We have to help them!”

“I’ll get the door!” Tupperware quickly ran for the switch on the other side of the room, but just as he was about to press the button to unlock the cells the cops burst into the room.

“They’re trying to free the criminals!” One of the cops shouted, jabbing his baton at Tupperware and Fastpass. Mysterion jumped in surprise as the interrogation room doors burst open, leaping back and whirling around to get into a fighting position. Wonder Tweek let out a startled yelp, and Mysterion was pretty sure he felt electricity crackled through the air just before he lunged at the cop.

The rest of the heroes were quickly swept into their own fights; Super Craig and Wonder Tweek quickly gravitating towards each other like they always do when fighting, and Mosquito joining in to help Mysterion keep one of the cops back.

Mysterion knocked the cop’s legs out from under him, giving Mosquito a chance to knock the gun away from the man.

“Tupperware, look out!”

“Oh, shit!”

Mysterion whirled around as the sound of a gunshot going off echoed through the room, the sound of something exploding quick to follow. “Tupperware!” He shouted, eyes quickly scanning the room to make sure everyone was okay.

He quickly took stock of all the heroes, glad to see none of them hurt, and then his eyes landed on the smoking, sparking, and destroyed switch. A loud creak was soon to follow, the townspeople trapped in the cells letting out mixed shouts of surprise as the doors started to rapidly open and close.

“Everyone stay back! Don’t get yourselves caught in the door!” Coon said, his tone pretentious. It made something sour in Mysterion’s stomach, even though he was glad Coon was taking this seriously.

“Ha! You guys can’t save them now!” The cop that fired the bullet said cockily. The other cop still standing growled, punching his coworker.

“You idiot! Now _we_ can’t get them out either!” He snapped, looking far angrier that he had before. Mysterion watched as Wonder Tweek snuck up on the cop, the tazer he used as a source of lightning sparking to life.

The policeman yelled as he was tazed, the other yelping as he was knocked to the ground by Fastpass. Human Kite was quick to kick the cop in the face, knocking him unconscious.

With all the cops unconscious and twitching on the ground, the heroes were left with only the sound of panicked murmurs and the constant squeal of the broken doors.

“Oh, man, how are we going to get them out of there _now_?!” Toolshed asked, huffing in frustration as he looked at the doors.

“I believe I may be of assistance!” A feminine voice exclaimed. Mysterion turned to face the stairwell they come up, eyes widening when he saw Call Girl standing there triumphantly.

“Call Girl!” He and a few others shouted happily, although the coon’s voice sounded anything but.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Coon sneered, crossing his arms over his chest. Call Girl rolled her eyes, flipping a lock of hair over her shoulder as she strode past the group of heroes and towards the busted up switch.

“What do you think? Saving your asses— _again_.”

“Ah! Be careful not to touch the wiring!” Toolshed and Wonder Tweek both exclaimed quickly, panic in the edges of their voices.

“Oh, don’t worry!” She said cheerfully, smiling at the two. “I just need to connect to the top of the case here and then we’ll be good to go!”

Mysterion stared, watching in awe as Call Girl pulled out some sort of adapter cable from her wrist guard and plugged it into the top of the busted switch box before typing in some sort of command. Within seconds the broken doors froze, giving the prisoners a chance to escape.

“We’re innocent so breaking out of jail isn’t a crime, right?”

“I’m not sticking around to find out.”

“Stay safe!” Captain Diabetes called out as the prisoners made their escape. Mysterion turned to head to the next level of the station, but the booming voice of Token’s father caught his attention.

“I smell a class action lawsuit! Supreme Court, here we come!” Token’s father said, he and his wife walking over to where Tupperware was standing.

“Token, what have I told you about playing too rough?”

“But mom, I was defending justice; I just helped _save_ you guys!”

“I don’t care what you were defending—you could have seriously gotten hurt!” Token’s mom snapped, a small bit of fear in her voice that made Mysterion’s insides twist uncomfortably with guilt. He was doing much the same thing, putting his life in danger almost every night as Mysterion and he already knew the pain that a family went through when losing a child far too well.

“But Tupperware can’t get hurt, mom! He’s impervious to pain.”

“Is he impervious to a gunshot to the heart?” She asked sternly, placing her hands on her hips. Mysterion internally winced as Tupperware did so physically, quietly admitting that he’d still get hurt.

“I have half a mind to _ground_ you for doing something so dangerous!”

Mysterion and most of the others who hadn’t already gone ahead took that time to do so, giving the family privacy. He looked over at Toolshed, who had gone to check the interrogation room for any signs of Umbra, and felt his heart drop even further as his teammate shook his head sadly.

He pushed back a sigh, turning to face the newest addition to their heist. “Call Girl, what are you doing here, anyway?”

“I noticed some sketchy purchases and calls between the police chief and some number I can’t seem to trace no matter how much I dig.” Call Girl explained, turning to face Mysterion. She looked worried, “Where’s Umbra, by the way? I didn’t see him when we all met up.”

Mysterion fought the urge to nervously bite his lip, exchanging another glance with Toolshed. “…Umbra’s been taken.” He admitted slowly, “We’re not sure where he is at the moment.”

Call Girl’s eyes grew wide, panic quickly settling into her movements as she grabbed the two heroes’ hands and pulled them up the stairwell. “We need to find him, fast!” She exclaimed, barely stealing a glance over her shoulder. “He doesn’t have much time!”


	36. In The End...

The room was spinning.

That was the simplest way to describe the pounding in his head and the dizziness Umbra was feeling as he sat there; the too white room fuzzy and swimming in front of him. His skin burned and his lungs ached, the smoke and incense making the air heavy.

Umbra coughed, fighting to keep his eyes open to watch the door for any chance of escape.

“Get the boy; those damn heroes will be here any minute now!” The muffled voice of the police chief came from the other side, an affirming “Sir!” following shortly after.

Umbra nearly shivered as the door was opened and cold, fresher air poured into the room, giving his lungs a chance to refill with clean air. Although he wasn’t quite sure just how clean it was with all the drugs the cops were taking.

“ _Wow_ , the boss wasn’t kidding when he said these things would do a whammy on you!” The Chief said, awed. “Levinskky, grab him!”

Umbra snarled with little heat behind it as the blurry form of a cop came forward, clawing and kicking weakly at them. “S-Stay away from me!”

The cop grabbed his wrists, twisting them around behind his back and forcing Umbra onto unsteady legs. “Get moving! Shub-Nigarath is hungry tonight!”

Umbra stumbled as Levinskky pulled him from the room, his legs feeling like lead and refusing to cooperate. His heart pounded in his chest, fear rooting itself just beneath his ribs. He had to escape; he knew he did, but he couldn’t muster up the strength to even _walk_ properly. How could he possibly escape and get back to the others like this?

“They’ll stop you, you know?” Umbra growled to the police chief, trying to bide time long enough for the others to come and save him and digging his heels into the ground the best he could in this state. “You won’t get away with feeding these innocent people to a being you don’t even understand!”

“Oh, we understand plenty,” The police chief chuckled, walking forward and grabbing a fistful of Umbra’s hair and yanking his head up to look him in the eye. Umbra tried to focus, but his head refused to stop swimming with fever long enough for him to do so. “That’s why we’re doing what boss said to do, and feeding you to it.”

The chief pulled on Umbra’s hair, pushing his head roughly to the side as he let go. Umbra felt an uncomfortable twinge in his neck from the action, hesitantly moving his head to make sure he was alright. The suddenness of the shove, though, gave Levinskky the perfect chance to drag him the rest of the way to the elevator in the back room, and Umbra felt his stomach drop.

Levinskky shoved him into the elevator when it opened, pressing the down arrow when he was in as well. Umbra growled in frustration, trying desperately to grab any of the shadows there. Fear curled low in his gut the longer he tried to grab the shadows and his efforts proved futile, the elevator stopping and Levinskky pulling Umbra out. The sound of a monster screeching and roaring reached Umbra’s ears, chilling him to the bone.

“This way, freak,” Levinskky grunted, shoving Umbra towards a side hallway. Umbra stumbled from the force of the shove, nearly falling to his knees if it hadn’t been for Levinskky’s bruising grip on his wrists. “You’re lucky it isn’t feeding time, or I’d feed you to him myself for that stunt you pulled the last time you were here.”

“Oh, fuck you.” Umbra spat, the usual distaste for cursing he had disappearing with his patience as the corrupt officer led him into a side chamber that smelled heavily of motherwort and had more precious stones scattered across the floor. The smell had Umbra gagging, head spinning again just from the smell.

Levinskky nearly physically tossed Umbra into the room, slamming the door shut nearly a second later. Umbra snarled, ramming his side into the door to try and open the door. Instead he recoiled back, landing on the floor again. He cursed, grabbing a handful of stones and throwing them at the metal like it had personally offended him. His had burned where some stones had touched, but nothing equaled the fear that was quickly taking over even the fever.

He didn’t have much longer, did he?

\---

“Do you know what a cop is, Freedom Pals?”

“And Coon and Friends!” Coon exclaimed quickly, making the police chief give him a flat look.

“And Coon and Friends,” The chief sighed, exasperated, “But do you know what a cop is, kids? A cop is a slave. A robot who is told not to think for himself.” The chief sighed, leaning back in his seat and folding his hands in front of him. “It’s the politicians who are the _real_ bigots. That mayor has been sitting in her office, telling us we have to change our ways. The only way to have her removed was to raise crime in the streets, and now cops are finally able to do things the _old_ way again. Don’t you see this is _better_ for everyone?”

“You’ve been arresting innocent people and _feeding them_ to an _elder god_!” Human Kite hissed, “That’s not a better way!”

“And give us back Scrambles!” Coon snapped, pointing at the chief as he leaned into the ass of the cat strapped to one of those contraptions on his table.

“Where’s Umbra?!” Wonder Tweek snapped, Mosquito shouting his agreement a second later.

The police chief hummed thoughtfully, tapping his fingers on his desk for a moment before standing and walking over to one of the cells off to the side. “You know, not every prisoner we have here is black. We actually _do_ have one white guy.”

He pulled a switch, the door Mysterion and the others came through closing a second later. “Shit, this is a trap!” Mysterion hissed, gritting his teeth as he whirled around to face the police chief.

“I’m sorry, kids, but you’ve left me no choice. Tonight is the night Shub Nigarath rises once more, and I can’t have you stealing away his main course.”

Mysterion’s gut twisted with anger and fear, vision turning red at the edges. They were going to feed Umbra to this elder god?

“You’ll excuse me if I… _don’t_ want to watch this.” The police chief said darkly after opening the door to solitary cell C403.

“Oh, fuck, it’s Jared.” Coon said as Mysterion snarled, lunging for the chief as he made for the elevator with the cat in his arms. The chief only grinned sinisterly as Jared grabbed Mysterion and used his own momentum to flip him over, stepping into the elevator a moment later. “See you when the darkness rises, kids.”

“He’s heading down to the basement!” Wonder Tweek yelped, “Ashton _has_ to be down there; we’re running out of time!”

“Shit!” Mysterion hissed, quickly getting to his feet and scrambling back as Call Girl let out a shout and was suddenly roundhouse kicking the pedophile right in the face and sending him to the ground. “Some forewarning would be nice, Call Girl!”

Call Girl let out a pleased huff, grabbing her hair and pulling it back into a ponytail. “I thought you wanted this taken care of quickly?” She asked knowing, smirking at Mysterion before she went after Jared once again, this time backed by Super Craig and Toolshed.

The group made quick work of Jared, dancing around his attacks and the ones most experienced with fighting landing nearly every single hit with pinpoint accuracy while the others managed to connect most of theirs as well, but with less accuracy.

For good measure, Captain Diabetes shoved the pedophile’s unconscious form back into his cell and closed the door, which Call Girl made sure was locked again before looking into the other padded cell in the room.

Call girl let out a startled gasp, whirling around with panic in her eyes.

“Call Girl?” Mysterion asked, trying to stay calm even though he was very rapidly feeling anything but.

“He’s been taken downstairs, and this room—“ She cut herself off, but Mysterion and the Freedom Pals could already fill in the gaps.

“Shit! Mysterion, the elevator has a damn keypad!” Super Craig cursed, kicking the door in frustration. Mysterion felt panic claw at his chest as he looked at the heroes trying to open the elevator; they couldn’t waste any more time!

“I can-“

Before Call Girl could finish her sentence, a small sizzle and pop came from beside Wonder Tweek. “Fixed it!” Wonder Tweek shouted quickly as the doors slid open. “This is how I got down there a few days ago, but it won’t hold for long!”

“Right! Freedom Pals, let’s move!” Mysterion exclaimed, rushing into the elevator. When all the heroes were packed into the elevator, they started their descent into the basement.

“Okay, When we get down there, _no one_ goes straight ahead until we’ve already check out the other areas for Umbra.” Mysterion said sternly. “We go straight ahead, we’ll most likely come across this elder god of theirs, and we can _not_ be split up when facing that.

“By my analysis of the building’s schematics,” Call Girl began, “There are only three places they could have locked Umbra; the Forensics lab, some more cells, or the morgue.”

“T-The morgue?!” Professor Chaos exclaimed, turning deathly pale beside Mysterion. “Like, with dead people?!”

“I’m almost positive they didn’t stick him there, Chaos.” Coon scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Mysterion bit back a growl, growing antsy. They were so close to getting Umbra back from the clutches of this whacked-out police cult, and still they were cutting it far too close. Something had been feeling off ever since they entered the station, and after the room Call Girl had looked into, he was, quite frankly, afraid that it meant Ashton had been incapacitated to the point of fever and exhaustion like the last time.

The elevator let out an unassuming and pleasant ding, opening the doors to a very eerie stone basement that was cold enough Mysterion could see his breath fog.

“Call Girl, you, Mosquito, Tupperware, and Kite come with me. We’re going to check this area off to the right. Wonder Tweek, you, Super Craig, Toolshed, and Fastpass check forensic. The rest of you check the morgue.” Mysterion ordered, earning a squawk of indignation from Coon and sounds of confirmations from the others. A scream of terror came from the ominous gate with a golden skull center in front of them, making Mysterion’s skin crawl. They were running out of time.

Mysterion and his small group went running down the hallway to the right, splitting up to check each room and calling out Umbra’s name.

The familiar smell of motherwort caught Mysterion like a punch to the senses, making him take a sharp left. He froze in his tracks, his blood running cold as he took sight of the padded door hanging wide open at the end of the hall. A wreath of some sort rested trampled on the ground, and stones of all kinds littered the floor of the cell and a little past the doorframe.

“Fuck,” Mysterion whispered, the shaky word making his heart start beating a million times faster. “Fuck fuck _fuck_ —GUYS! WE NEED TO BREAK DOWN THAT GATE, _NOW_!”

\----

“Ia Ia, Shub Niggurath! Black Goat of the woods. Blessed be us, your faithful servants, the destroyers of light. Ia Ia, Shub Niggurath.”

Umbra’s head was fuzzy, barely able to process the words the chief was speaking past the pounding of his head and fear coursing through his veins. The others were really cutting their saving pretty damn close- if they even managed to get there in time. He and Classi were three people away from getting eaten by some creepy, gross _thing_ that had gone crazy and swallowed five people whole the moment they brought Ashton through the doors.

He could feel a new presence bearing down on him and trying to suffocate what little air he could get into his lungs, and Ashton was almost positive it was this elder god. He could taste the bloodlust in the air, the excitement of getting precious shadow nymph blood in its system. Umbra’s stomach rolled.

He should have listened to his parents and the cats, huh?

“Let them go!” A familiar gruff voice snapped through the haze, another, shriller voice shouting “Umbra!” at nearly the same time.

The next think Umbra knew, he was being shoved up even more of the steps and he somehow had enough adrenaline and energy thrumming through his veins to control the shadows around him and Classi enough that when they were shoved towards the pit it was their captors that fell in and not them.

The beast in the pit shrieked, spitting blood and thrashing its tentacles. Umbra’s breath was knocked out of his lungs as he slammed into the ground, the second delay it took to get it back giving the beast a chance to grab his ankle with a sharp-toothed tentacle. He winced from the feeling of mini teeth tearing into his skin, letting out a growl and reaching over to tear it off. He winced, whimpering slightly as he tore the appendage of his ankle and felt his skin tear with it.

Snub Niggurath let out a pleased, excited rumble, the tentacle in his hand trying to wrap around his wrist and pull him the rest of the way into the pit even as he scrambled back.

Someone slammed their heel into the tentacle; hand wrapping around Umbra’s arm and grounding him long enough to see steely eyes and the familiar blue puffball hat. “Oh, _fuck_ , you don’t look good.” Super Craig hissed, before quickly wrapping an arm around Umbra’s waist and leaping back with a shouted curse. Umbra’s bones rattled from the force of a tentacle smacking into the bloodstained stone where he and Super Craig had been mere moments before, and he really wished he was lucid enough to focus on helping fight.

“Mysterion!” Super Craig shouted, “Umbra’s completely fucking out of it!”

“Ah, dammit!” Mysterion cursed from somewhere off to the left as Umbra shook his head almost violently, trying to clear his head of fever even as the smell of motherwort and who knows what clung to his clothes and made his lungs ache and focus blur.

“Don’t let Shub Niggurath get anymore of his blood!” Call Girl’s soft, confident voice suddenly appeared beside the two, a near blur of pink and purple and fiercely tossing a cult member into the pit before nimbly jumping out of the way of more tentacles and teeth. “If he gets enough of Ashton’s blood we can kiss South Park goodbye!”

“What?! Why?!” Wonder Tweek’s panicked voice shouted. Ashton felt the buzz of electricity cut through the air, making the hair on his arms stand on end.

Mysterion’s voice cut through the sounds of screams- both human and inhuman, “We can talk about that _after_ we deal with this fucker!”

“Oh, shit!” Ashton’s mind cleared up enough to see the sight of tentacles bearing down on the group, and before he could think against it, he grabbed the heroes’ shadows around him and threw them out of the way, somehow managing to shadow travel himself out of the way as well.

\-----

Mysterion was stunned to see just how much lucidity and strength Umbra managed to have after being constantly exposed to so much of his kryptonite, Call Girl, Wonder Tweek, and Super Craig all suddenly being tossed away from the giant tentacles about to either crush them to dust or snag them and eat them by their shadows and Umbra disappearing from where he had been being held up by Craig just before the tentacles would have crushed him.

He would have thought more about the consequences of Umbra so blatantly using his abilities in front of so many people, but at the current moment Mysterion and a good portion of the heroes were too busy trying to throw all the cult members into the mouths of their precious Elder God to really think about much else.

A choked gasp of pain came from somewhere to Mysterion’s left, followed closely by rasping gasps and the sound of painful coughing and what Mysterion was hoping was just saliva hitting the tile and not blood. A weak, “Ow…” Followed the sounds soon after, and Mysterion was very suddenly reminded of the tumble that Umbra had had at the U-Stor-It the last time they were in a situation like this.

“Fastpass! Get that lady and Umbra out of here!” Toolshed said quickly, Shub Niggurath letting out a pain filled screech as he shot a staple into one of the tentacles thanks to the staple gun he had attached to his tool belt.

“Got it!” Fastpass shouted, and Mysterion could have sworn that Fastpass really _did_ zoom by and grab the lady who had been shouting at them earlier before zooming right past him once again out into the hallway.

\---

What felt like hours later, all the cult members and Shub Niggurath were dead and Mysterion was genuinely surprised he had made it through the night with no more than some terrible cuts and bruised ribs. The others were in similar states, but everyone ultimately looked pleased with themselves over _somehow_ actually managing to defeat an _Elder God_.

Captain Diabetes ran to the corner where the cat the police chief was obsessed with cowered, cooing them over and picking them up before carrying them over to the Coon and Friends. “Coon friends, we did it! We’ve got Scrambles!”

“Yeah!” All the Coon Friends- minus Super Craig, who was standing close beside Wonder Tweek- cheered.

“Scrambles?” Mysterion repeated in confusion, before the sound of footsteps behind the group caught his attention. The lady who seemed to know them came running over, grinning excitedly. He felt his chest lighten and shoulders relax when he caught sight of Umbra leaning against the railing on the steps, gripping it with white knuckles but all the same still standing and looking far less sick than he had when they came down.

“I can’t believe you little niggas did it! Thank ya’ll. I feel like I’m finally safe in this shithole town!”

“You’re welcome. Who are you?” Toolshed asked, but he didn’t receive an answer as the lady strode back up the steps, leaving the heroes all by their lonesome.

“Oh my god, you guys! We’ve got a HUNDRED BUCKS to get our franchise off the ground! Fuckin’ Coon and Friends! Fuck yeah, you guys!!” Coon cheered, far too excited about something so simple for someone their age. It twisted inside Mysterion’s gut in the worst way, though, when Coon let out another cheer and their group when running past, grabbing a confused Umbra as they went. He glanced at the other Freedom Pals, who shrugged in confusion.

“Whoa, whoa, WAIT!” Mysterion shouted as they left the police station, stopping Coon and Friends in their tracks. Umbra looked grateful for the pause, letting himself drop to the curb of the sidewalk and just sitting there, rubbing his bloody ankle. “What’s going on?!” Mysterion continued his question, glaring at Coon. “Where are you taking that cat?”

“Our truce is up, Mysterion.” Coon hummed, grinning slyly at the group. “This is strictly classified info, of course. You understand.”

“Uh, no, we _don’t_ understand.” Toolshed snapped, and Coon let out a mock gasp of surprise.

“What? You don’t?” Coon gasped, placing a hand on his chest like he was affronted by the reveal. “Well, how sad. Considering how smart you all claim to be, I would have thought you’d put the puzzle pieces together by now…” Coon’s sly smiled returned even as he spoke with an annoyingly mocking pity in his tone, and Mysterion felt his blood freeze over before coming back boiling hot at his next words.

“ _Umbra_ was giving us your intel.”


	37. Angels Fall The Farthest

“Wait, what?” Umbra frowned, looking up at the group in confusion. “No I-“

“The charade is up, Umbra.” Coon interrupted, grinning sinisterly. “You don’t have to play nice with the losers anymore.”

Umbra blinked owlishly up at Coon, foggy brain trying to sift through the words and make sense of it all, “’Play ni—’ I have no idea what you’re talking about, Coon. I _left_ your group.”

“Mhm, so you say. But how can we be sure, huh?” Coon hummed, and Umbra looked at the Freedom Pals, seeing all of them with varying levels of uncertainty on their faces.

His stomach twisted, wondering if his night really would be getting worse. “You guys… can’t actually believe this? Guys, you know I wouldn’t do that!”

“I mean…” Toolshed began softly, biting his lip, “It _was_ weird that they came to the same conclusion we did… and we know they had way less information….”

“What? But I wouldn’t do something like that!” Umbra said loudly, not quite shouting but trying to get his point across. “I don’t backstab my friends!”

“Maybe not but you _do_ keep secrets, don’t you?” Coon explained innocently, walking over and putting a hand on Mysterion’s shoulder. Mysterion growled, shrugging it off almost violently. “ _Really,_ Mysterion, I never took you as the type to spill out your secrets to someone who won’t even _try_ to tell you anything.” Coon stepped back, letting out an almost scoffing laugh. “I mean, even _I_ don’t know his goals. For all we know, he could be playing _all_ of us.”

Umbra gulped, fear curling in his chest as Mysterion leveled an angry glare at him. “Myster—“

“Mysterion, what was it you said a couple days ago, on patrol? Something about your powers being linked to the very same type of cult the police was a part of?” Coon interrupted, grinning. “How you were… afraid that you might become a part of something so sinster, so terrifyingly strong that the entire city would collapse should you let yourself fall into their hands.” Umbra shuddered as the anger and betrayal in Mysterion’s eyes darkened, confusion filling his own chest.

Mysterion _had_ told him that on one of their recent patrols. He had been stuck in his thoughts all over again and Umbra had let him get his worries off his chest.

How Coon had gotten hold of information Umbra had promised to never reveal, he had no idea.

“And even though he had insisted that he’d help fight, Umbra disappeared the moment we entered the station.” Coon nearly cooed, “Almost like he had never planned to help us fight at all.”

Umbra felt rage boil under his skin, just barely giving him the energy to push himself to his feet and point at Coon, “That wasn’t my fault!” He snarled, and Coon’s eyes glinted knowingly.

“Oh, but how do we know that? You are the only hero keeping his agenda a secret. For all we know, you’re working for the enemy; you could have faked the entire capture!”

Before Umbra could get out another word to try and prove his innocence to this entire charade, Mysterion was moving too fast for him to dodge.

“You fucking sold us out!” Mysterion snarled, grabbing a fistful of Umbra’s jacket and pulling him close to his face, teeth bared.

“Whoa!” Umbra’s eyes widened, hands flying up in surrender. “I didn’t do anything, Mysterion! You have to believe me!”

“I _knew_ we shouldn’t have trusted you,” Mysterion said darkly, betrayal swimming in his eyes even as Umbra tried to find words that would calm him down and get him to see reason. “I don’t know if you’re still siding with Coon or what, but _someone_ had to have alerted the police station to our heist. They were _prepared_ , and I told you all that stuff from patrol in _confidence_.”

Mysterion shoved Umbra back, the half-nymph’s injured ankle buckling under him and causing him to stumble into Super Craig, who was just coming out of the station with Call Girl and Professor Chaos. He looked up at him, smiling apologetically while Super Craig just raised an eyebrow in question as he helped him stand back up.

“Wait!” Wonder Tweek said quickly, getting between Umbra and Mysterion. “Mysterion, hang on a second! Think about all the times he’s helped us; that must mean _something_ , right?”

Mysterion growled, anger clear in his eyes even as Toolshed and Tupperware conversed quietly behind them. “You’re right, Wonder Tweek.” He sighed after a moment, glaring at Umbra. The look in his eyes made Umbra’s heart lodge in his throat, making it hard to swallow. “It _does_ mean something. But Freedom Pals does _not_ take in people who we can’t trust, and _somehow_ our information was leaked after Umbra joined, and Doctor Timothy is unable to read his thoughts.”

“Umbra needs to leave,” Toolshed said calmly, stepping up to be beside Mysterion. “A Freedom Pal is someone we need to know we can trust, and Umbra, after this, you are anything _but_.”

“What?!” Umbra and Wonder Tweek shouted, looking at the group with wide eyes. Umbra couldn’t believe what he was hearing; they were actually _falling_ for Coon’s half-hearted words?

“Guys, you can’t be serious!” Wonder Tweek exclaimed, motioning to Umbra. “It’s _Umbra_! The dude doesn’t have a single bad bone in his body!”

“Maybe not,” Tupperware agreed calmly, “but we know _nothing_ about him. We can’t _trust_ him, Wonder Tweek.”

“Coon is playing you guys for fools!” Umbra gasped, mind starting to race a million miles per second while trying to come up with something, anything to say that’d make them change their minds. “You guys can’t tell me you don’t see it!”

“Better safe than sorry,” Mysterion said coldly, and before anything else could be said he was turning to his teammates. “Dawn is coming; we should get home.” Mysterion turned to face Umbra again, eyes going cold. “Don’t come back to the Freedom Pals base. You’ve lost your place there.”

Umbra felt like his heart was being crushed. It was something so small, so insignificant in the whole of their lives since it was just a simple game, but it was the fact that he had been so careful of his own secrets that it caused his friends, the heroes he felt he had actually found a good place with, to be unable to find him untrustworthy and fall for the words of a liar.

“Mysterion, please,” Umbra whispered, hoping his voice didn’t sound as disheartened as he felt. “You can’t seriously believe him.”

“That’s not the problem.” Mysterion hissed, whirling around to face Umbra again, the ferocity of his words nearly punching Umbra in the gut. “The problem is that we can’t believe _you!_ So don’t you dare come back.”

Coon hummed, clearly pleased with himself, “Welp, I’d say it’s time to return the cat and get our reward money. Thanks for the help, Umbra!” Coon exclaimed cheerfully, turning and ushering his teammates down the street. Umbra snarled, fighting the urge to flip the lying raccoon off.

“I never helped you, asshole!” He shouted instead, snarling at the retreating figure.

The sound of footsteps walking away from him had Umbra turning his attention back to Mysterion, heart pounding in his ears as Mysterion and most of the Freedom Pals started walking away.

“Guys, you can’t be serious!” Wonder Tweek shouted, not moving from his place beside Umbra. Belatedly, Umbra realized that Super Craig was still beside him as well. “Guys!”

When Wonder Tweek received no response, the blond sighed, looking at Umbra apologetically. “Are you okay, Umbra?”

“I’ve… been better.” Umbra admitted slowly, blinking owlishly at the three remaining heroes around him. “Did—Did Coon seriously just manage to turn them against me?”

Umbra jumped as Call Girl brushed her hand against Umbra’s collar, holding a small, watch battery sized speaker between her forefinger and thumb. “He did,” She spoke calmly, tone ever so slightly bitter as she dropped and crushed it beneath her heels. “He set you up pretty badly, it seems.”

“It could have been worse.” Super Craig sighed, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning. “He could have gotten _everyone_ against you.”

“Why aren’t _you_ with the other Coon Friends, anyway?”

Super Craig blinked at them, shrugging. “Umbra helped Tweek and I work things out, and I’ve been against this plan from the start.” He paused, waving his hand idly in the air. “I also stopped caring about the fake franchise thing years ago. This just stops me from being bored at this point.”

Call Girl nodded and Umbra smiled gratefully at the trio, exhaustion settling deep into his bones. Well, at least he still had some allies… although the thought of Mysterion being so upset with him stung a little too deep.

“Well, we should get going home before we lose any chance of getting sleep.” Wonder Tweek said softly, “Will you be able to get back by yourself, Umbra?”

“I’ll be fine. You guys hurry on home.” Umbra sighed softly, smiling at the blond, who nodded.

“I’ll do my best to get the Freedom Pals to see reason.” Wonder Tweek promised, smiling at Umbra. “See you tomorrow for videogames at Tupperware’s?”

Umbra chuckled, rubbing one of his eyes tiredly. “Maybe…. I might just, uh, stay home, though…”

“We’ll come visit if you do,” Call Girl promised. Umbra nodded and the group said their goodbyes, all heading off towards their homes and leaving Umbra all by his lonesome. He sighed, glad his night didn’t get even worse by the cloudless sky suddenly deciding to bring upon him a shower of rain.

\---

When Ashton got home, he almost didn’t want to go upstairs to bathe and sleep. He smiled down at Sparkles and Beasley, who had taken to clinging at his legs since he walked into his home, before he scooped them into his arms and carefully ascended the stairs. His ankle throbbed with each step, and he really hoped he wasn’t leaving a trail of blood as he went.

Ashton set the cats down when he was done with the stairs, yawning and telling himself that he _had_ to get the reek of motherwort and who knows what else off his skin and clothes before doing anything else.

He grabbed a plastic bag from in his room and clean pair of pajama pants and a shirt, walking to the bathroom and letting the cats in before locking the door. He stripped and shoved his hero suit into the bag as the bath filled with water, chuckling softly as Sparkles and Beasley worked together to open the bottom cabinet on the sink and pulled out the bottles that were there. Ashton chuckled, taking the bottles and reading them; shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and bath oils.

He added a good portion of the bath oils to the running water, the smells of herbs Ashton didn’t know the name of along with mint filling the air. Already Ashton could feel his head clearing a bit, and he found he was excited to get into the bath and relax.

He grabbed a rag from under the sink, dipping it into the filling bath and squeezing out the water before gingerly bringing it down to his ankle. An irritated, red and gagged gash wrapped around his ankle almost completely, the area around it and the bottom of his foot coated with drying blood, and he hissed in pain as the rough cloth pressed into the sensitive wound.

Beasley meowed, pressing into Ashton’s side and staring up at him with worried eyes. Ashton laughed weakly. “You guys were right; I should have stayed home.” He said softly, turning off the tap and climbing into the bathtub. He whimpered as the feeling of warm water envelope his ankle, the sting burning far more than he thought it would. He took deep breathes, blinking back tears.

He’d be fine.

.... His mother was going to kill him.

\------

Kenny sighed as he changed out of the Mysterion costume he kept carefully stored away in his closet, trying not to let his anger get the best of him even as it simmered in his skin. Nothing ever changed, did it? Of _course_ Umbra was a double agent. They knew _nothing_ about him.

Well, nothing about the _hero_ at least.

Ashton was as much as a sweetheart as ever; Kenny would trust him with his life. Umbra, though? He was so different from Ashton. He kept secrets. He played by his own rules.

Why Kenny thought he could ever trust him, he’d never know.

He slammed his closet shut with a little too much force, the weak frame rattling almost dangerously and his cheeks burning with embarrassment. He couldn’t _believe_ Umbra would give Coon their lead, his personal _inferiorities_. It made him want to punch the smug shadow master in the face.

Kenny growled beneath his breath, taking a deep breath. He’ll revisit these feelings later, when he wasn’t exhausted and beaten black and blue.

Still the fact remained that he had kicked Umbra from the team and that the hero had betrayed his trust, and it made his stomach twist painfully into knots. He had lulled himself into a false sense of security, all because the male had powers similar to his own.

He frowned, punching his pillow out of frustration as he laid down in his bed.

Never again; if Umbra wanted his trust back, he’d have to work harder than he ever had before in his life to get it. Mysterion wasn’t about to be fooled a second time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized, when writing this chapter, that A) I can't write manipulation if it punched me in the face and B) I did not set up enough for a truly believable manipulation in previous chapters. So, I apologize if it came across as stale or too quick to judge. The heroes turning their backs on Umbra was necessary for plot, though, so here it is. Hope you enjoyed!


	38. Another Truth Learned

Waking up, Ashton realized he must have gotten into the bath on his last legs, because he didn’t remember ever getting _out_ of the bath, much less getting dressed and into bed or bandaging his ankle. Of course, seeing his mom sitting next to his bed, arms crossed over her chest, and a disapproving frown on her face also clued him into the face that maybe, just maybe, he hadn’t gotten there himself.

“You do realize that the hallway reeked of a good portion of our weaknesses, right?” She asked, unimpressed, “Not to mention, the blood that left a trail from your shoes to the bathroom.”

At the mention of the blood, Ashton’s entire face heated up in embarrassment; he pulled the sheets over his head. “I’m sorry…” He croaked, embarrassed that he had done such a flat out terrible job of keeping this under the radar.

His mom didn’t look impressed, even if her eyes did show that she was worried behind the disappointment. “We told you not to follow in our footsteps.”

“These kids were going to get themselves killed, mom.” Ashton tried to reason, even as the fuzzy memory of him being _removed_ from the fight scene and the others still managing to win made his stomach drop and his words sour in his mouth. “I couldn’t just stand back and watch.”

“Were you any help, _at all_?”

Ashton cringed as the dagger struck deep, rolling over so his back was facing his mom and ignoring the indignant meow Beasley sent his way for disturbing his sleep. He didn’t answer her, his stomach churning.

“… That’s what I thought,” Reya sighed, sounding unsurprised. Ashton felt like it was hard to swallow, a pressure in his chest that made breathing just a tad too difficult for his liking as even his eyes started to build pressure behind them and fill with tears. He pulled the sheets even further over his head, wanting to hide away.

They were quiet for a while, and Ashton wished she would just hurry up and leave because he was ready to berate himself in solitude, thank you very much. He didn’t need his parents rubbing salt into the wound over the fact that he was apparently such a terrible hero he not only needed to be saved by a bunch of kids who were playing pretend, but that him needing to keep secrets over who he really was, why he really joined the game, was apparently suspicious enough when laid out in front of them they’d consider even _Cartman’s_ manipulative words.

Warmth and the gentle, familiar touch of Reya’s hand on his shoulder pulled him from his thoughts, pulling him back around to face her. “Ashy, what happened?” She asked softly, concern and worry in her voice instead of the dry, obvious disapproval she had been using before.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not _nothing;_ I know how you get when you feel like you’re being left behind or trapped.” Reya explained, a small hint of regret in her voice. Ashton let out a small whine, pulling the sheets back down away from his face.

“I’m not feeling _either_ of those things! This is just—just me being stupid.” Ashton said quickly, not quite shouting but not keeping the same dullness that he’s been speaking with since he woke up.  Even to his own ears it sounded like he was sulking. He pushed himself up from the mattress, not meeting his mom’s eyes as he continued to speak. “At least you guys get what you wanted; I’m not going to be a hero anymore—fake or otherwise.”

Silence fell over the room again, and Ashton felt his chest turn to ice as his mom removed her hand from his shoulder. “What do you mean?” She asked, not unkindly, even though it felt like a punch to the gut.

“I’m done playing hero, alright?” Ashton nearly spat, voice shaking far more than he liked. He still couldn’t meet his mother’s eyes. “I never should have joined in their game in the first place.”

“Ashton, what happened?” Reya asked softly, placing her hand over his own and lightly directing his chin towards her so they were meeting each other’s eyes. Ashton gulped; the worry in her calm grey eyes making emotions Ashton didn’t want to face well up inside him.

He shouldn’t be so upset— not when the others had sound reason to find him untrustworthy— and yet he could feel tears wanting to burn against his eyes, making his breath catch in his throat.

“Most of the others don’t trust me anymore.” He mumbled, looking away from his mother again and taking a shaky breath. “At least not as heroes; Cartman— Cartman had found out some information that had been told to me in confidence, and then he started talking about how I was keeping secrets from the others and made it sound like I could be a double agent, and—“

Before Ashton even knew what he was doing, his next words caught in his throat and his sight blurred with tears. He scrubbed angrily at his eyes, hiccupping as his breath continued to catch and he couldn’t help but feel far too small as Reya wrapped him in a hug, calling for Dio as she did.

\----

Now normally, Tweek wasn’t one to get angry. Anxious, jittery, and impulsive? Definitely. Angry, though? He could count on one hand the times he had well and truly been angry; even then just barely.

Right now, though, Tweek was fairly sure he was going to kill a man.

When he and Craig had arrived at Token’s house earlier, things had been fine. He had yet to get a text from Ashton saying that he wasn’t up to the task of being around their backstabbing friends, but Token had apologized for his actions the night before, even if he still wasn’t going to agree that Umbra was allowed back in the Freedom Pals. Which was fine; he didn’t know about Umbra’s quest for Supernaturals or his actual abilities, there was reasoning behind his caution. Stan and Kenny? Same deal. Either way, _Tweek_ wasn’t the one they had to apologize for.

No, the reason he was ready to kill a man was because he didn’t receive a text from Ashton, but a call from his _mother_ , demanding to know just what their friends had said that made Ashton want to hang up his hero suit and drop his place in the game even though he was one of their strongest allies in the _hell_ that was this situation with the police and crime before being told he wasn’t going to come over on account of a fever that had appeared the hour before and the fact his ankle hurt too much. Then to make matters worse, Cartman walked into Token’s mansion with the $100 reward in his hands and flaunted it like he hadn’t just crushed his friend’s spirit all over a measly _$100_ and a fake movie franchise.

 So yeah, Tweek was on the way to seeing red and getting ready to kill a man; anger buzzed through his skin enough that he could feel sparks of _something_ at the tips of his fingers, which normally would have startled and scared him at least a little—like it had when he had been scoping out the police station with Ashton-- but only served to rile him up more as Cartman refused to leave.

Craig’s hand on his shoulder, squeezing hard enough to calm him from his anger, was all that was standing between him and attacking Cartman. A glance at Craig showed that he was in a similar state, if the clench in his jaw and twitch of his eye were any indications.  

“So where’s Douchebag?” Cartman asked, grinning almost maliciously at the group. “I wanted to show him what he was missing by getting on our bad side.”

“You mean _your_ bad side.” Kyle scoffed, glaring at Cartman. “ _You_ were the one who got angry when he left the team.”

“ _Ashton_ ’s sick,” Tweek ground out, glaring at the group. “No thanks to you assholes, who didn’t even wait until making sure he was _okay_ before tearing into him like that monster did his ankle.”

“Oh god that wasn’t a hallucination?” Stan croaked, suddenly going pale. “His ankle literally looked like it was all muscle and blood.”

“YeAH ‘CAUSE IT _WAS!!!!”_ Tweek snarled, throwing his hands up into the air. “Seriously you guys, what the actual _hell_!!!”

“It’s not _our_ fault!” Kenny defended quickly, immediately clapping a hand over his mouth, blue eyes wide in shock. Tweek whirled on him.

“ _You’re_ the one who kicked him out of the group!” He snarled, baring his teeth at his friend. “You guys just listened to the fatass when Ashton was _clearly_ in no state of mind to actually clear his name.”

Craig stood up from his place on the couch, wrapping an arm around Tweek’s waist in an attempt to calm the blond down. “I can confirm that Cartman was spying on you guys. Butters- sorry, Professor Chaos, was bribed to follow Umbra and plant the tracker on him. Probably did it during—” Tweek tensed, tapping Craig’s side and shaking his head. The other Freedom Pals didn’t know about Ashton’s abilities. Well, Kenny probably did, considering how closely he stuck to Ashton’s side before Cartman just had to go and ruin it all. Craig cleared his throat a little, thankfully taking the hint. “During a patrol or something.”

“How do we know you’re not lying?” Token asked rationally, making Tweek growl and Craig sigh.

“Listen, I get that we have our differences as heroes, but this is something I wouldn’t lie to you about even if I _was_ in costume.” Craig said calmly, giving Tweek’s side a small squeeze, “If you don’t want to listen, then Tweek and I can just go check on Ashton now instead of after video games.”

Cartman scoffed, waving dismissively. “If you want to go, just go.”

Tweek growled, feeling more sparks at the tips of his fingers. Craig gave his side another squeeze, not showing anything on his face as he looked at the others.

“Can… Can we come see him after, too?” Clyde asked hesitantly, “I feel bad about leaving him there.”

The others let out varying sounds of agreement, ignoring how Cartman spluttered in shock at everyone turning against him. Tweek sighed, not feeling comfortable with the idea of all of them going to Ashton’s so soon after the betrayal. He gnawed on his lower lip, sighing a moment later.

“I’ll ask Mrs. Fairweather.”

\----

Dio watched as Reya paced back and forth down the hall angrily, idly remembering the days where her hair would flair and fly around her as wildly as the shadows.

“I understand their guilt, Tweek, believe me I do, but I don’t want them anywhere near my son until he’s better and _wants_ to see him. Got that? You and Craig go and enjoy yourselves though; we’ll figure out what do about Ashton and this cockamamie idea of him dropping being a hero.”

“I thought you didn’t want him to be a hero?” Dio asked with a hum as Reya brought her phone away from her ear and stuck it back in her jacket pocket. Reya huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and looking away from him. Her cheeks were bright red from embarrassment.

“Shut up. I do—” She paused, sighing heavily. “Well, I mean I _don’t_ , but… but it’s in his blood.” Reya paused again, nose crinkling as she looked down at the floor, where the trail of blood Ashton had left still stained the carpet. “Ugh… Can’t you call up skeletons already to get this cleaned, Dio?”

Dio winced, looking at her apologetically. “Sorry, Nico’s always been better at that than me. I think we might be better replacing the carpet entirely or calling in professionals.”

Reya sighed, shaking her head. “No, don’t do that.” She bit her lip, walking over and plopping down onto the couch next to him. “We should have just told him the truth from the start. Maybe then these things wouldn’t be happening to him.”

Dio scooted himself closer to his wife, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close with a sigh. She rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around herself “Considering his bloodline, even the gods’ protection won’t help keep him from forging his own path, Reya.”

“Well, I hate that its going down the path of helping people as a hero.”

“Hey, it’s helped him find a good group of friends and, I think, quite a few Supernaturals.” Dio paused, thinking over his words over carefully. “I think one might even be a demigod of some sort.”

Reya looked up at him, “You mean Kenny?”

He shook his head, chuckling. “No, I mean that boy who dresses in dark blue. Kenny just seems to have been unluckily cursed or something of similar nature.”

Reya hummed, looking back down at the tv as it continued playing some random show. “We should call Nico and Will, right? Get Will over here to fix up Ashton’s ankle before Monday.” She frowned at the screen. “A weekend with his uncles might do Ashton some good.”

“I thought we were just going to give him some tough love; toss the suit at him, tell him a hero never gives up, and that the situation was too dangerous to leave to a bunch of kids who didn’t know the first thing about fighting in order to survive whatever is happening.” Dio said, waving his hand in the air a bit as he spoke and grinning down at Reya. Reya chuckled, rolling her eyes.

“Well, yes, that too. But I really do think spending time with his uncles would be rather helpful.”

Dio chuckled, running a hand through Reya’s hair lovingly. “Of course. I’ll IM them in an hour or two; I think it’s dinner time at camp right now.”

“Thank you.”

“Anything for you, love.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before getting up from the couch. “Now then, I’m going to check on Ashton and make sure his fever isn’t getting worse. You just relax for a bit.”

“If you’re sure.” Reya said softly, following Dio as he walked around to the back of the couch and towards the steps and resting her arms on the back of the couch. Dio grinned, giving her a thumbs up as he started up the steps.

“’Course I’m sure!”

Reya giggled, the sound like bells. “You’re too good to me.”

“Only for you and Asher.” Dio chuckled fondly, before heading up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the reasoning for bringing Percy Jackson characters into the mix is because I was talking with someone and noticed how Nico and Will were practically a mirror image of Ashton and Kenny, one thing led to another and I was joking about them being related. It was such a cute concept, I couldn't stop myself from adding it into the story!
> 
> The short sumamry of Dio's background then becomes:  
> -He was 21 when he was asked by his father, Hades, to watch over his half siblings Nico and Bianca in the Lotus Casino  
> -He goes to camp during the summer, and college during the school year, where he meets Reya  
> -Talks to his father about wanting to start a family with Reya a year or two later and protect her from Hecate  
> -Hades (he does this with Nico too, later on. I like to believe hes actually got quite a soft spot for his children) helps create charms and the like to protect Dio and his family in an attempt to keep them safe from monsters and gods and the like after Ashton is born
> 
> Ashton's blood is roughly 25% god 25% human, and 50% nymph. He doesn't know he's a demigod, but he's about to find out!
> 
> Hope you like the little addition! It'll be referenced here and there, but isn't going to become a main focus of the story.


	39. Got A Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the end of last chapter in the end notes I said Dio was 18 when placed in the Lotus Hotel; I'm changing it to 21 and have reflected it in the note!
> 
> I really like the idea of Hades not being a jerk and actually doing his best to be a dad to his kids so he's going to differ from Rick Riordan's by, probably, a LOT. Even his appearance differs a bit. Just a heads up.
> 
> Enjoy!

The simplest way to describe how Kenny currently felt, was awful.

He had hoped to see Ashton at Token’s and apologize for how rashly he had acted the night before, but instead he was told he wasn’t allowed to see Ashton at all even when he was sick. Tweek and Craig had already left for Ashton’s house a while ago, and seeing his work was done, Cartman left soon after.

“So… should we be mad at you guys for not stopping Cartman?” Stan asked weakly, looking over at Kyle. Kyle shrugged, glaring down at his controller.

Clyde bit his lip, giving the group his infamous teary-eyed gaze. “We knew he bribed Butters; we were there… We just… we’d hoped that Butters wouldn’t actually go through with it. Ashton didn’t deserve to get thrown under the bus like that.” He looked down guiltily, picking at his pizza. “Sorry.”

Token sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “The thing is… As annoying and manipulative as Cartman is…. He made some good points. We _can’t_ trust Ashton.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s not telling us everything.” Kenny sighed, crossing his arms over his chest nervously. “Whenever we asked about what he had joined Freedom Pals or Coon Friends, he just said that he was looking for something, and that was it.”

“Yeah, and have you noticed that he just… appears and disappears into thin air whenever he wants?” Stan asked, “Like, that’s pretty sketchy even for Kenny, and he disappears for days on end sometimes!”

The unknowing bite towards the times Kenny would die and stay in Hell or Heaven for a couple days for whatever reason stung, but he understood the point his teammates were making.

“Have you ever thought that there was a reason for his disappearances? Something he, y’know, can’t explain to you?” Clyde asked, frowning slightly in confusion. Kenny felt a bitter taste fill his mouth as he glared at the tv screen, watching the characters work through some sort of puzzle. Did Coon and Friends know about Ashton’s abilities? The fact he was half nymph?

“It changes nothing.” Kenny mumbled angrily, “He didn’t tell us what he was looking for, and made no move to tell, even when we gave him an olive branch to do so. He had his own set of motives and considering the nature of these events and the timing matching with Ashton’s move to South Park, it’s safest to consider him an enemy more than an ally.”

Silence followed Kenny’s words, the other boys staring at Kenny with wide eyes. Even Coon and Friends looked stunned. Kenny fought the urge to pull his hood over his head again, instead looking away from the stares. “Don’t look at me like that—you know I’m right.”

“…You’re scary when you go all Mysterion out of costume.” Token mumbled after a few minutes of silence. “And I think Cartman has all of us wrapped around his fingers, if this is the outcome.”

\-----

When Nico and Will finally appeared in their living room in a mass of shadows, Reya couldn’t have been more relieved. Ashton’s fever had yet to go down, and her herbs weren’t working on Ashton’s ankle for anything but blood clotting and closing the edges of the wound well enough they wouldn’t bleed through the bandages as he slept.

In the 18 or so years Reya got to know her husband’s brother, Nico had turned from a scrawny little kid, angry at the world and himself for feelings that were considered wrong in their original time, into a man who was smiling, at ease, and in love. His skin was no longer deathly pale and grey, the circles under his eyes had faded to a ghost of what they used to be, and he was all lean muscle. His hair was cut shorter than it had been when she last saw him, but it looked nice compared to the rat’s nest it had been in some of his teenage years.

Will was much the same; still the vibrant, sunny healer and son of Apollo he had always been, but age had been kind to him, and only helped him fill out his form better. His hair was actually a bit longer than before, shaggy and wavy and looking as surfer-like as ever.

 _Really,_ Reya thought with a small smile, as she watched Beasley climb up a tired Nico’s shoulder and perch there as he sipped at some Gatorade Will was holding out for him, _It’s amazing just what love can do to some people._

As painful as standing near Will (and all his siblings, really) was those first few years of knowing him, she couldn’t thank him enough for bringing her brother-in-law out into the truest parts of himself. She was also incredibly thankful he was there to keep Nico’s abilities and limits in check after he nearly faded away when they were fighting Gaia.

“So what happened, exactly?” Will asked after helping Nico to the couch. “Since we were in camp you didn’t get very detailed.”

Dio sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ashton and his friends came across a Cthulhu Elder God last night, probably given to the crack police department here by a Supernatural bounty hunter, and Ashton’s ankle got mangled.”

Will’s eyes widened at the mention of the creature that hurt Ashton, “Did you just say _Cthulhu Elder God_?! ...Are you sure you should be living here?”

“The crazier the safer it is, I’m afraid.” Reya said with a small sigh. “Less attention gets drawn to the town if it’s constantly got weird things going on.”

“You said Ashton also had a fever?” Nico asked from his spot on the couch. “How long has he been ill?”

“Since about noon or so.”

“Have you tried giving him ambrosia or nectar?” Will asked thoughtfully, “It might ease the pain.”

Reya shook her head quickly, heart lodging in her throat at the idea. “No, no, _absolutely not_! Those are dangerous enough for half-blood demigods, if someone who’s _only 25 percent_ god eats and drinks the food of the gods, it only spells trouble.”

“…Wait…. _What_?”

All four adults in the room jumped at the sound of a new voice, and Reya winced as she looked at the stairs to see Ashton standing there on shaking legs, grabbing the banister tight enough for his knuckles to turn white. His cheeks were still flushed with fever, but the look on his face was enough to freeze Reya in her place.

“Ashton, what are you doing out of bed?”  Dio asked softly, looking up at Ashton calmly even as their son stared at them like they had betrayed him even more than his friends had.

Will and Nico exchanged a glance with each other, clearly trying to figure out which direction to go.

“ _Who’s_ 25 percent god?” Ashton asked, voice turning colder with each word.

Dio cleared his throat, sighing heavily a moment later. Instinctively, Reya tensed, her heart leaping up into her throat and a “wait” on the tip of her tongue when Dio shook his head.

“You are, Ashton.”

Reya held her breath, curling her nails into her palms as Ashton’s eyes widened. Seeing that Ashton wasn’t about to speak, Dio continued. “There’s a lot we haven’t told you,” He admitted, “But the big one has definitely been that your uncles and I are all demigods. Nico and I are the sons of Hades; Greek god of the underworld. Will is a son of Apollo; Greek—”

“God of the sun, healing, and music. I know.” Ashton interrupted, falling silent a second later as he sorted through the information he was just given. Reya bit her lip, hoping that he’d handle this as well as he had learning he was half nymph.

“We’ve been planning on telling you, but… With Hecate, monsters, and Supernatural hunters, there just… wasn’t time.”

“So… So now, after I _just lost my friends_ thanks to the fact I’m a nymph and have powers, you’re telling me I’m part _god_ , too?” Ashton asked, voice breaking and turning raw. He was silent as Dio and Reya nodded, a twisted smile forming on his lips as he let out a bitter, sad laugh. “When were you planning on telling me?”

“We just did?” Reya said, although even to her own ears it sounded more like a question instead of an answer. She winced as Ashton’s head snapped to her, eyes filled with fury.

“Why do you keep doing this?! Why only after I get hurt do ever tell me these things?!” He shouted. The shadows on the wall flared with his emotions, lashing out wildly as he got more worked up. “Did you just decide when I was born that you were going to keep everything a secret? Did you even _think_ about how scary it is not knowing what you are?!

“Did you even learn from when my powers developed?!”

Reya gulped at the icicle he just thrust into her chest, memories of the terrified eight-year-old boy nearly getting engulfed by shadows in the field out back for carpool flooding to the surface.

“Ashton,” Will’s voice was harsh, but Ashton just whirled to face his uncles, his eyes literally flashing dangerously for a moment. Will continued to look at him calmly. “That’s enough.”

“No!” Ashton barked, “No, I’m _done_ with being silent!” He gasped as he shouted, tears starting to glisten in his eyes, “I was fine with learning I was a shadow manipulator; excited even. I was okay with learning I was half nymph a couple weeks ago, but I am _not_ okay with this.” He snarled, voice a near growl as he stomped his foot and shadows flared around it. All three cats let out unease meows, watching Ashton warily.  “I’m sick of thinking I know who I am before you just rip it out from under me!”

“Ashy, we—”

“ _NO!_ No more excuses!” He cried, placing his hands over his ears. “You are all just _determined_ to ruin my life, aren’t you?! ‘Keep this a secret, keep that a secret, oh hey you know the fact your _best friend_ _constantly dies_? Keep that a secret too!’” Ashton snapped hysterically, throwing his hands out as tears spilled from his eyes. Reya’s heart stopped at the mention of Kenny’s curse.

“You know about that?” Dio asked, just as stunned.

 Ashton barked out a mad laugh. “I’m not _stupid_! I can piece the gaps in memories and all Kenny’s scars together, and ever since I started drinking Chamomile they’ve been getting clearer.” His voice caught in his throat, his chest heaving. “Did you ever think to _tell me_ , though? No! I’m tired of being kept in the dark and being in the light about it is _even worse_ because it’s just another thing I have to keep a secret!”

His bottom lip trembled almost violently before he bit it, his breathing loud and heavy even as his amethyst eyes glistened with constantly flowing tears. Reya's heart dropped; his lips curled back into a snarl, his expression reminding her of a wounded animal. “THIS IS _EXACTLY_ WHY MY FRIENDS HATE ME!”

“Ashton,” Reya croaked, feeling tears starting to build in her own eyes. “Ashton, sweetie, we just wanted to protect you.”

Ashton scoffed, gripping the banister even tighter as his eyes flashed purple again. “Oh, you mean like when you kept me locked away in the house like Rapunzel?” He hissed venomously, voice dropping low and dangerous. Each word was like a dagger in Reya’s heart, guilt crushing her more and more as her mistakes were laid bare.

Ashton let out and immediately choked back a sob, his voice filled with no good emotions as he snarled, “If you wanted to protect me so badly then maybe you should have never let me go to school in the first place!”

Before anyone could say anything else Ashton was turning around with a pained gasp, clearly trying to keep back any audible sobs as he ran towards his bedroom with no care for his ankle.

Reya gulped, feeling her own eyes water and lip tremble as the sound of his door slamming echoed through the house. She clapped a hand to her mouth, not meeting the others’ gazes as they all took in what just happened.

The house fell silent.

\----

Ashton gnawed at his lip, hands gripping his hair tight enough to hurt as he sat against his bed. His ankle and head throbbed in tandem; his vision swimming as he sobbed as quietly as he could. He wondered if this was how his friends felt right now; angry and hurt all because he couldn’t tell him what he was.

How could his parents hide all this away from him for 16 years?

It wasn’t _fair_.

He had no idea how long he stayed there, crying his eyes out, but the sound of someone knocking on his door pulled him from his thoughts and made him realize just how lightheaded he was from both the fever and crying.

“Go away!” He croaked, although whoever it was opened the door anyway.

“Yeah, not gonna do that, Ashton.” Nico walked in, closing the door behind him as he spoke and tossing Ashton a gatorade. Ashton fumbled, the drink bouncing form hand to hand until he clutched it with both to his chest. “Drink; you’ve been crying with a fever for a half hour now.”

“What do you want?” Ashton asked softly, looking away from his uncle as he opened the offered drink and took a sip. He paused, remembering some of the things he said. He lowered the drink, stomach churning. “…Are you going to make me apologize?”

“Quite the opposite, actually,” Nico sighed, sitting down beside Ashton. Their shoulders brushed, and Ashton shivered from the cold he radiated, although a small curl of relief spread through his skin. He took Nico’s hand in his, surprising Nico as he lifted it and placed it around his shoulders and on his forehead. Already he could feel the cold easing away the headache, making him sigh and close his eyes.

Nico let out a small chuckle, his thumb stroking along Ashton’s brow line. “I came to say that I understand exactly how you feel.”

Ashton frowned, opening an eye to peek at Nico. “You do?” He asked skeptically.

Nico nodded, “I swear on the River Styx that everything I’m about to tell you is the truth.” He said softly. A rumble of thunder passed overhead, making Ashton jump. It wasn’t supposed to storm today, was it?

Nico let out another chuckle, pulling Ashton closer. “I see that look in your eyes; I basically just made an oath where if I lie to you I can get smited.”

“Smited…? Isn’t that when—”

“Yep.”

“…..Don’t lie please.”

“Wasn’t planning on it, Ash.” Nico assured, smiling at him kindly. “Now then. Did you know I was angry at not only your dad for keeping this a secret from Aunt Bianca and I, but at another of your uncles?”

Ashton felt his stomach drop; he didn’t know who Nico was talking about. He thought Aunt Hazel and his grandpa—who was _Hades,_ for Pete’s sake— were his only other family, and that was on the rare chance either of them could come around.

Nico must have noticed his dread because he sighed, mumbling something under his breath Ashton didn’t even try to decipher, although it sounded like it was in Italian so he couldn’t have understood, anyway. “Bianca… well, Bianca is someone none of us really like bringing up. She died a couple years before you were born. Sacrificed herself to save your uncle and some of his friends. She was twelve.” Ashton could hear the old pain of loss in his uncle’s voice; could recognize it from his own parents’ voices.  Nico sighed heavily, “Your uncle regretted that he let it happen, but there was nothing he could do. He’s the son of Poseidon, by the way. Your other uncle is a son of Jupiter.”

“You were mad at him for Bianca’s death?”

“Partially, yes. I was only ten at the time and was just saved by him and his friends and he had promised to look after Bianca. Instead he came back and she was dead. To make things worse, Dio had gone off to college out in Arizona the day after we were brought to camp; said he couldn’t be there or else I couldn’t make friends,” Nico chuckled bitterly, “Turns out I’d drive them away myself; in my anger at Percy I split the ground in the pavilion in half, and I ran. I found out a little while later that I was a son of Hades and, well… people fear children of Hades.”

“…Did Dad already know?” Ashton asked softly, earning a bark of laughter from Nico.

“You have no idea… Did you know the Big Three made a pact not to have more children around the time of World War 2 thanks to the war and a prophecy? Your grandfather is the only one who didn’t break that pact.”

Ashton’s eyes flew open and he stared at Nico, taking in his features. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion; Nico didn’t _look_ like he was in his 90s, and he knew his dad definitely wasn’t. “…Are you lying?”

Nico shook his head, amusement glinting in his eyes. “Nope! There’s a casino you must _never_ enter in Las Vegas; the Lotus Casino. It slows down time. Your grandpa sent us all there, hoping Bianca or I would be the child of the prophecy and so Dio could keep an eye on us since Zeus killed our mothers. We thought we had spent a month there but instead 70 years had passed.” Nico chuckled a little fondly, “I think your dad actually adjusted fastest out of the three of us. Probably talked to lots of people from modern day in the hotel or something; he and Alecto had already got him sent to college with no problems.”

Ashton could feel his jaw drop, mouth hanging open from the information. “Oh my god.”

“‘Gods’, actually.”

“Oh my gods.” Ashton corrected on autopilot, anger and sadness almost all forgotten in light of this new information, “So… So what happened, exactly? Begin from as early as you can, I want to hear it all.”

Nico rolled his eyes fondly, and Ashton listened as Nico told him all about his life; how they all used to live in Italy and how Dio’s mother became best friends with Bianca and Nico’s after finding out about their shared father. How Hades and other gods helped Dio (and later all the older demigods who made it to their 20s) hide from monsters to have a fairly normal life and now all of them called Dio crazy when he started doing hero work. How Hades and Persephone both melted at the sight of Ashton when he was born.

“Practically all the gods and goddesses know of you; there’s never been a nymph halfling before after all, much less one with godly blood.” Nico explained, “I think everyone wanted to protect you, after your mother sacrificed so much for us during our battle with Gaia, and they might have gotten a bit carried away.” Nico removed his hand from Ashton’s forehead, choosing to run his hand through Ashton’s hair instead. “I do know that you’re incredibly lucky to have a family that wants to protect you so fiercely, even if they accidentally hurt you in the process.”

Ashton looked away, an embarrassed flush crawling up his cheeks, “…I know.” He said honestly, voice small as he fiddled with the empty bottle in his lap. “I just… I’m tired of hiding who I am from my friends.”

“Yeah, speaking of that,” Nico said, slipping back into the defensive tone he usually had, “Mind telling me what’s going on there?”

Ashton gnawed on his lip, wincing as he tore some of the skin and taste metal on his tongue. “... It’s… it’s stupid. You don’t want to hear about it.”

Nico huffed, “Oh believe me, I do. Spill it kiddo.”

So Ashton did.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I don't talk about South Park on my twitter, but I do occasionally post stuff about the story! So come by and talk to me about it, if you'd like!
> 
> Also!!! If you have fanart I'd love to see it! Please show me it via twitter: @BeneathTreeMoMo
> 
> Or instagram: @momomackenziekenz
> 
> Please and thank you! Enjoy the story!

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